In Global First, Ukraine Drone Boat's Missiles Shoot Down 2 Russian Fighter Jets

This attack is significant for two reasons: it is the first time a drone boat has used air to air missiles to shoot down fighter planes anywhere in the world, marking yet another Ukrainian military innovation that is changing the nature of warfare. 

Secondly, it happened close to the Russian port of Novorossiysk far to the east of Crimea, which is where the decimated Black Sea Fleet retreated after it lost so many ships to the shipless Ukrainian Navy. This simply emphasizes another of Russia's military challenges as its Ukrainian invasion falters. JL  

Howard Altman reports in The War Zone:

Ukrainian Sidewinder infrared-guided air-to-air missiles fired by Magura-7 drone boats shot down two Russian Su-30 Flanker multirole jet fighters in a global first. This marks the first time fighter airecraft have been downed by drone boats and the first use of the AIM-9 from a drone boat for a kill. The incident took place in the Black Sea on Friday. The crew of the first Su-30 survived and was picked up in the Black Sea by a civilian ship. Preliminary reports say the crew of the second jet was killed. Ukraine shot the Su-30 down about 50 km (about 31 miles) west of Novorossiysk, “using the same tactics: lured it out and caught it

Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR) shot down two Su-30 Flanker multirole fighters with AIM-9 Sidewinder infrared-guided air-to-air missiles fired by Magura-7 drone boats, the head of the agency told The War Zone exclusively. This marks the first time fighter airecraft have been downed by drone boats and the first use of the AIM-9 from a drone boat for a kill.

“It’s a historical moment,” Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov told us. The War Zone cannot independently verify this claim.

 

The incident took place in the Black Sea on Friday, said Budanov, who offered new details about what happened. Previous reporting from GUR, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry and Russian Telegram channels stated that one Flanker was shot down by an adapted infrared-guided R-73 (AA-11 Archer) short-range air-to-air missile.  

Video emerged on social media showing the first Flanker downing. Budanov said there were no videos or images of the second engagement.

GUR used three Magura-7 drone boats in the attack, with two of them firing on the jets, according to Budanov. The Magura-7 is an air defense variant of the Magura-5, he explained, declining to elaborate on the difference between the two

Russia has captured an intact Ukrainian MAGURA V drone boat, Russian sources claimed. Via Twitter An intact Ukrainian MAGURA V5 drone boat that Russian forces recovered in November 2023. Via Twitter

Budanov said that the crew of the first Su-30 survived and was picked up in the Black Sea by a civilian ship. Preliminary reports say the crew of the second jet was killed, he added.

 

This is not the first time Ukraine has said it shot down an aircraft with a missile fired by a drone boat. In December, Ukraine claimed it used an R-73 fired from an uncrewed surface vessel (USV), better known as a drone boat, to down a Russian Mi-8 Hip helicopter over the Black Sea. You can see that encounter in the video below.

GUR began installing AIM-9s on drone boats in January, Budanov said. He would not comment on whether this was the first time they had been fired at a target from a USV. In the past, we have only seen Soviet-designed air-to-air missiles used as SAMs mounted on Ukrainian drone boats.

“We use a couple of models [of missiles] on our Magura-7, but the best results [come from] the AIM-9,” he noted.

As we have previously noted, the AIM-9M is broadly similar to the R-73 in terms of capabilities and rough dimensions, but with one major difference.

Video capture of a Ukrainian drone boat backing an R-73 air-to-air missile. (Via X)

From our earlier reporting: “More specifically, the AIM-9M has the all-aspect capability introduced on the AIM-9L model but provides all-around better performance. It has improved defense against infrared countermeasures, enhanced background discrimination capability, and a reduced-smoke rocket motor. The U.S. Air Force first received deliveries of the AIM-9M model in 1983.”

 

One thing the AIM-9M does not have, unlike the R-73, is high-off-boresight (HOBS) capabilities, where its seeker can be slaved far off its centerline axis to lock on and engage targets at extreme angles. This would make locking onto aircraft harder when mounted on a drone boat. Unless the launcher is articulated, and we have not seen that with prior Ukrainian SAM-configured drone boats, the vessel would have to point the missile at the target to get it into its seeker’s view, which is somewhat narrow. It’s also worth noting that the Sidewinder has been adopted for surface-based naval air defense before in the Sea Chaparral configuration.

Ukraine has received an unspecified number AIM-9Ms from the United States and possibly its coalition of backers.

The Pentagon has sent Ukraine an unspecified number of AIM-9M Sidewinder missiles. USN

We have previously suggested that Ukraine could use its donated AIM-9M missiles on its fighter aircraft, although we have not seen proof of this at this time. AIM-9s could also be used on Ukraine’s so-called FrankenSAMs.

Russian Telegram channels acknowledged that one Flanker was downed by a drone-boat-launched missile and said the attack raised troubling issues.\“Three sad moments can be noted, which indicate, to put it mildly, problems in our military organization in the fourth year of the Special Military Operation,” the popular War Correspondent Kitten Telegram channel complained.

“1. The enemy seized the initiative in the Black Sea.

2. The Black Sea Fleet, after the loss of the flagship [ Project 1164 Slava class cruiser Moskva] and a number of ships, has still not been restored in terms of combat capability. The fleet (what remains) is huddled in harbors and bays.

3. The enemy has an overwhelming advantage in the use of unmanned boats (USVs) with the ability to attack in any part of the water area and keep the coast of the Russian Federation and the adjacent airspace under control.”

Ukraine shot the Su-30 down about 50 km (about 31 miles) west of Novorossiysk, “using the same tactics: lured it out and caught it,” Russian military expert Vladislav Shurygin explained on Telegram. “The pilots ejected and were picked up by civilian sailors. Both are alive, and the plane – to hell with it. The main thing is that people are alive.”

 

Shurygin chided the Russian military for allowing Ukrainian drone boats to be so effective.

“The very fact of a strike with a SAM is not new, as the Ukrainian Armed Forces already attacked in a similar way in December last year. But for some reason, many people are still surprised by this,” he wrote. “And the most important thing is that there are means to combat this threat. As practice has shown tonight, even ordinary [first-person view] FPV drones with competent operators effectively destroy [USVs].”

Russia first began using FPV drones to attack Ukrainian USVs in May of 2024.

“Against the backdrop of yesterday’s attack on Novorossiysk and the loss of the Su-30SM, questions are being asked about how to solve the problem of coastal defense without having to send planes to fire cannons at the [USVs] like in World War II,” the Russian Two Majors Telegram channel posited. “The answer is simple: look at the land theater of operations and the revolution in UAVs, which we wrote about back in early January. Unmanned aircraft are capable of solving the same problems at sea, and in conditions of lesser opposition.”

In addition to using FPV drones to target the USVs, Two Majors suggested using “the long-established combination of the ZALA reconnaissance UAV and the Lancet loitering munition…Unlike the front lines, where they are hunted by interceptors and RADA radars, there is nothing like that over the Black Sea.”

The ability to shoot down fast-moving jets with AIM-9 missiles is another step forward for Ukraine’s highly innovative applications for its drone boats and one more threat for Russian aviation to be wary of.