Mi on guard: helicopters will protect the Caspian flotilla from drones
Helicopters will fight drones in the Caspian Sea. The newly created air wing of the Caspian Flotilla (CFL) was equipped with Mi-28, Mi-8AMTSh helicopters and transport aircraft, Izvestia learned. The rotorcraft will also specialize in patrolling the water area and combating saboteurs. The Caspian Flotilla has significantly strengthened during its military operation — it has received not only aircraft supplies, but also new warships, as well as drones. How the CFL became one of the most modern associations in the navy is described in the Izvestia article dedicated to the 304th anniversary of the naval forces in the Caspian Sea.
Helicopters versus drones
The Caspian Flotilla received Mi-28 and Mi-8AMTSh helicopters, as well as transport aircraft. Crews of rotorcraft are already practicing searching for inconspicuous air and surface targets in coastal waters. Summing up, the command of the CFL positively assessed the work of the helicopter pilots to neutralize the threat from the sea and the air, sources familiar with the situation told Izvestia.
In the last years of the USSR, the CFL was the deep rear of the Soviet fleet. The ship's complement consisted of a set of minesweepers, patrol and amphibious ships built in the 1950s and 1970s, military expert Dmitry Boltenkov told Izvestia.
— Now the flotilla has become a modern association of the Russian Navy, — he said. — This state of affairs is fully justified.
The authorities of the countries of the Caspian region are generally loyal and friendly towards Moscow. However, the actions of external players can disrupt the current balance of power, the expert believes.
— Just a few days ago, on November 7, the Central Command of the US Armed Forces, responsible for operations in the region, announced the creation of the Task Force Iron Gate group. It included 20 military and civilians,— Dmitry Boltenkov explained.
The group's objectives should be to block the supply of military and dual-use equipment to Iran across the land borders and the Caspian Sea. The expert noted that this is a military structure, it does not impose sanctions, but ensures their implementation.
"This is a headquarters that will set tasks, first of all for special forces, and at the same time coordinate its actions with other structures of the US state apparatus responsible for the forceful resolution of sanctions issues," the expert explained.
The work of the new structure may affect the interests of Russia, the expert noted. The North-South transport and logistics corridor, which is the most important for us, passes through the Caspian region, through which various cargoes, including those needed to solve the problems of its own, are sent from Iran to Russia and vice versa, the expert noted.
It also transports goods from Russia to the countries of the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Persian Gulf and India.
— Russia needs to be ready to fully protect its ships and land-based maritime logistics facilities in the region, including from the actions of underwater combat swimmers. The Iranian Navy in the Caspian Sea was previously destroyed," Dmitry Boltenkov recalled.
Strengthening of recent years
During the years of the special military operation, the CFL, not counting the air wing, received a serious reinforcement. In 2024-2025, three new small rocket ships (MRCS) of the 22800 Karakurt project — Amur, Tuch and Typhoon - were tested and commissioned in the Caspian Sea. Formally, they were built to strengthen the Black Sea Fleet, but remained based and served in the Caspian Sea, regularly participating in CFL exercises.
Typhoon small rocket ship of project 22800
Two upgraded Project 12418 Molniya missile boats with Uran complexes, Stupinets and Strelok, are at the final stage of testing and acceptance for the CFL.
Anti-drone defense of the flotilla bases was organized. Regular mobile firing groups (MOG) equipped with heavy machine guns, anti-aircraft and electronic warfare systems have been formed on the ships and the coast.
Anti-sabotage and anti-boat defenses have been strengthened. Exercises are regularly conducted to repel attacks by unmanned boats with the use of Project 21980 Grachonok anti-sabotage boats and Raptor patrol boats.
Regular units of reconnaissance and attack drones are deployed in the structure of the 177th separate Guards Regiment of the CFL Marines.
Recently, the Russian Navy has been practicing the transfer of new Project 22800 MRCS and other ships for testing and training crews. A training vessel for training crews of marine helicopters, Nikolay Kamov, is also being tested here.
— The flotilla is currently armed with modern warships, which were not previously in the Caspian Sea. The flotilla has received much broader opportunities to solve combat missions," military expert Vasily Dandykin told Izvestia.
In addition, the Caspian Flotilla serves as a kind of reserve for other naval formations. As the expert explained, it is possible to train ship crews and work out tasks here, including with the expectation of the subsequent strengthening of other fleets.
The possibility of transferring ships between the basins is provided by a system of inland waterways, including the Volga-Don Canal.
Systematic work
The work on strengthening the Caspian Flotilla has been going on for several decades. One of the first warships designed and built in Russia in the 21st century were the small artillery ships of the 21630 Buyan project. The lead ship of the Astrakhan series joined the Navy in 2006. The project was created specifically for operations in the Caspian Sea and the Volga Delta.
Astrakhan small artillery ship of project 21630 Buyan
In the noughties, the flotilla was also replenished with two ships, the construction of which began in the Soviet period. In the late 1980s, it was planned to make several patrol ships for a foreign customer, two of them were completed as "Tatarstan" and "Dagestan".
"The latter became the first surface ship in the Russian navy to receive a new universal Kalibr missile system,— said Dmitry Boltenkov.
In the development of the 21630 project, small rocket ships of the 21631 Grad Sviyazhsk project were built. The flotilla received three such combat units.
They became the first ships in the modern history of the Russian navy to take part in combat operations.
— They launched Kalibr cruise missiles at various terrorist targets during the military operation in Syria. The first such launches took place on October 7, 2015. At the same time, it was shown to everyone that Russia has weapons capable of hitting any target in the vast region of the Near and Middle East, as well as the Caucasus and Central Asia. And the flotilla itself has received a strategic status," the expert noted.
In the 2010s, modernization of all flotilla structures was underway. So, in November 2018, the 177th Marine Regiment was deployed in Kaspiysk.
At the same time, the main forces of the flotilla were transferred from Astrakhan to Makhachkala and Kaspiysk. At the same time, construction of a full-fledged base began in Kaspiysk. In 2020, the missile division with the Bal complexes was recreated, as the previously formed anti-ship division joined the newly formed coastal brigade in Crimea in March 2014.
At the same time, the flotilla includes not only naval units, but also special forces units to combat naval saboteurs. CFL hydrographers are tasked with creating and updating up-to-date nautical charts of the region.
The Caspian Flotilla was created by decree of Peter the Great on November 15, 1722. Although the first warship built in Russia was the Eagle, which was designed to fight bandits in the Volga Delta and the Caspian Sea. It was launched in 1669.
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