Drone Boat Shoots Down a Fighter Jet For the First Time in History
For the first time in history, an unmanned drone boat has shot down a fixed-wing fighter aircraft in combat, according to Ukraine's military intelligence directorate (GUR).
On May 2, a Ukrainian Magura-7 naval drone operating near Novorossiysk opened fire on a Russian Su-30 fighter jet with a missile. The short-range engagement was successful, and the fighter broke up before falling into the sea, the drone's camera footage suggests.
Russian military-linked blogger Rybar confirmed the shootdown; he said that both of the plane's pilots successfully ejected and were rescued by good Samaritans. He claimed that the munition was an R-73 (Archer) short-range air-to-air missile, a Soviet design repurposed in a surface-to-air role.
Citing GUR chief Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, the War Zone reports that the missile used was the U.S. Air Force's AIM-9, the standard short-range infrared-guided air-to-air missile of NATO forces. Budanov claimed that off-camera, the drone also shot down a second Su-30 in the same engagement.
The Kremlin has not commented.
Ukraine has experimented in adapting infrared air-to-air missiles onto the Magura platform previously. These munitions have the advantage of built-in target acquisition and homing systems, compact size and comparatively light weight.
The GUR is adding anti-aircraft missiles to its drones in an attempt to erode the Russian military's aviation capability in the northeastern Black Sea, as it already has on the surface. On New Year's Eve, a Magura drone shot down a Russian helicopter and damaged another over the Black Sea - the first time in history that a drone boat has shot down a manned aircraft of any kind in combat.
The Magura already dominates surface warfare throughout the northern half of the Black Sea. With extensive targeting and technical support from the U.S. military and the CIA (according to the New York Times), Ukraine's drone fleet has had a devastating effect on Russian naval vessels. Russian forces have attempted to blunt further attacks by using helicopter and jet patrols to intercept the drones at sea, before they can reach protected harbors.
The Ukraine conflict is the first in history to be fought primarily by drone in every warfighting domain. On both sides, drone attacks now account for the overwhelming majority of personnel casualties in the land war; a large share of the airstrikes on infrastructure targets; and virtually all of the naval conflict in the Black Sea. In keeping with the drone-on-drone character of the rest of the war, the Russian military's next step in combating Ukrainian Magura sea drones is the deployment of airborne suicide drones, which Russian remote operators fly directly into inbound boats to blow them up.
Attack on Novorossiysk
In a related action, Ukrainian forces launched a large-scale attack on the port of Novorossiysk on Saturday. Among other effects, a grain terminal and multiple apartment buildings were reportedly damaged in the strike, Russian officials said. Bystander videos on Russian social media confirmed that high-rise residential buildings were hit.
Russia's defense ministry claimed that a total of 170 Ukrainian drones and 11 missiles were shot down over the course of the attack, along with 14 Ukrainian sea drones destroyed.