Russia Wraps Nuclear Submarines in Anti-Drone Nets 7,400 km From Ukraine
Russia has quietly taken an unusual step at one of its most remote strategic bases draping full-hull anti-drone netting over two nuclear-armed submarines docked at the Rybachiy base on the Kamchatka Peninsula, roughly 7,400 kilometers east of the Ukrainian border.
Commercial satellite imagery captured on May 12 by Vantor and analyzed by Naval News shows the two Borei-class ballistic missile submarines one a baseline Project 955, the other an upgraded 955A model hai sitting under tensioned nets at the Pacific Fleet’s primary nuclear submarine hub. It’s the first time this kind of full-body coverage has been observed on Russian submarines anywhere.
What makes this notable isn’t just the hardware. It’s the location. Kamchatka is nowhere near a Ukrainian drone’s operational range. Yet someone at that base clearly decided the threat was real enough to act on.
Naval News submarine analyst HI Sutton flagged the obvious tension in that logic the base is out of reach for any battlefield UAV, but a coordinated strike launched from closer proximity, the kind Ukraine pulled off during Operation Spiderweb, is a different calculation entirely.
The nets won’t stop a long-range drone strike. What they’re designed to block are smaller FPV drones dropping shaped charges exactly the type used in Spiderweb. Notably, imagery also shows booming barriers deployed near the piers, suggesting the base is hedging against unmanned surface threats as well.
Each of these submarines carries 16 RSM-56 Bulava intercontinental ballistic missiles. They are core to Russia’s nuclear deterrent in the Pacific.
The fact that their commanders are now installing anti-drone defenses typically seen in active warzones says something whether it’s genuine threat assessment or institutional anxiety, it’s a meaningful signal either way.
📡 Source: Naval News / HI Sutton Satellite imagery by Vantor (May 12, 2026)