A delegation of Ukrainian military personnel has arrived in Portugal to participate in REPMUS 26, the world's largest unmanned vehicle and robotics experimentation exercise.
The exercise, organized by the Portuguese Navy, begins on Monday and runs through September 25 across testing sites in Tróia and Sesimbra.
During the drills, Ukrainian specialists will put NATO capabilities to the test by launching simulated naval drone attacks against frigates, submarines, ports, and restricted areas.
Military sources said that Ukrainian specialists defeated NATO assets in every simulation during the previous edition of the exercise. They achieved those results by drawing on combat experience gained from naval drone attacks against the Russian Black Sea fleet.
Testing autonomous maritime technology
REPMUS, which stands for Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping using Maritime Unmanned Systems, is an annual military exercise designed to evaluate emerging autonomous technology. The event brings together armed forces, defense industry representatives, and academic researchers to test uncrewed surface vehicles, underwater vessels, and aerial systems in real maritime environments.
The Portuguese Navy hosts the event along Portugal's Atlantic coast. Tróia is a sandy peninsula located south of Lisbon across the Sado River estuary from Setúbal, offering expansive waters for naval maneuvers. Nearby Sesimbra, a coastal town on the northern side of the bay, provides additional deep water access and coastal infrastructure for defense testing.
Naval drone tactics and allied defense
Naval drones have become a focal point of modern maritime warfare following Ukrainian operations in the Black Sea. Ukraine has deployed uncrewed surface vessels carrying explosives to target Russian warships and port facilities, forcing naval planners to adapt their defensive strategies.
NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is an alliance of 32 member countries across Europe and North America. The alliance regularly conducts joint exercises to improve interoperability among member states and test defenses against evolving asymmetric threats, including autonomous systems and uncrewed combat platforms.
The Ukrainian delegation will continue testing tactics and naval drone systems alongside NATO forces in Portugal through September 25.
