Splash One Sukhoi! Ukraine's Drone Boats Just Shot Down a Russian Fighter Jet.
A Magura V5 unmanned surface vessel fired an R-73 dogfighting missile at a Sukhoi Su-30.
Under the cover of darkness on May 2, 2025, separate formations of Ukrainian unmanned surface vehicles attacked Russian navy anchorages in occupied Crimea and in Novorossiysk, a port in southern Russia 75 miles from Crimea.
Russian drones detected the wakes (see video below) and Russian warplanes sortied to attack the incoming USVs. The drone boats fired back with at least one infrared-guided missile—and shot down a Russian Sukhoi Su-30.
It was the first-ever shoot-down of a manned warplane by an unmanned warship, and the latest in a series of startling accomplishments by Ukraine’s drone navy.
It’s unclear how many USVs attacked the anchorages. Russian forces spotted at least one formation of three drones and launched explosives-laden first-person-view drones to intercept. One FPV struck one boat. A second FPV hit a second boat. “Took down another one,” a Russian operator reported in a video of the defensive effort translated by Estonian analyst WarTranslated.
A two-seat Su-30 went after the same or another USV formation motoring toward Novorossiysk. But the explosives-laden attack drones were escorted by at least one 18-foot Magura V5 attack drone armed with 10-foot R-73 dogfighting missiles. The Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate released a video depicting an R-73 striking the supersonic Su-30. (See video above.)
“The ruthless domain of Neptune claimed” the struck jet, the intelligence agency boasted.
Evolving drones
The shoot-down marks the further evolution of Ukraine’s attack USVs, which have damaged or sunk several Russian warships since late 2023. There are also versions of the robotic vessel that can fire machine guns or unguided rockets or launch explosive FPV drones for strikes on coastal targets.
As more USVs fell victim to Russian helicopters, jets and aerial drones patrolling the approaches to the main anchorages, the Ukrainians adapted. In the spring of 2024, enterprising Ukrainian engineers kluged together a combination of sensors and R-73 missiles borrowed from the Ukrainian air force and mounted the resulting system on some of the intelligence directorate’s Magura V5s.
The Russian Fighterbomber Telegram channel expressed surprise. “The Ukrainian were able to somehow connect the rocket with the USV’s telecontrol systems.”
An R-73’s seeker is sensitive to heat sources such as an aircraft engine; it doesn’t need telemetry from the launching vehicle for guidance. But Fighterbomber isn’t wrong to wonder exactly how the USV’s crew would remotely aim and launch an R-73.
Whatever the method, it works. On Dec. 31, the air-defense Maguras claimed their first victims: two Russian Mil Mi-8 helicopters.
A slow-flying transport helicopter is an easier target than a fast-flying fighter jet, of course. But given the pace at which Ukraine’s USVs are evolving, it was probably just a matter of time before the drone boats killed a jet.
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Russians recorded attempts to repel an attack by Ukrainian uncrewed naval drones on Novorossiysk and Crimea’s coast.the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine special operations unit, in coordination with the Security Service of Ukraine and Defence Forces of Ukraine, eliminated a russian Su-30 fighter jet in the Black Sea — marking the first time in history that a naval drone has destroyed a manned combat aircraft.