The Ukrainian sea drones putting a dent in Russia’s air force
In a world-first, Ukraine is fitting unmanned naval drones with anti-aircraft systems
Ukrainian military intelligence announced on Thursday that it had it destroyed two Russian helicopters with missiles fired from a sea drone in the first ever strike of its kind.
The Ukrainian-made Magura V5 drone, operated by “Group 13”, a secretive unit of Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence, was adapted with R-73 heat-seeking air-to-air missiles, dubbed “SeaDragon”. On Tuesday it shot down two Mi-8 helicopters and damaged a third over the Black Sea.
These drones, which are usually loaded with explosives and rammed into Russian ships and boats, have already revolutionised naval warfare.
The plastic Magura, named after the Slavic goddess of war, has a reported range of 800km and is said to be almost invisible to thermal imaging cameras and radar, according to a Group 13 commander, interviewed by the BBC in March.
Group 13, formed last year, claims to have sunk five Russian ships and damaged several others. In March, the Russian patrol ship Sergey Kotov was sunk by a sea drone attack, killing seven, Ukrainian intelligence said.
A Group 13 commander told the podcast Ukrainian Jenny meets… the drone is usually loaded with 250kg of explosives and can be piloted from anywhere with an internet connection. Its 800km range covers most of the Black Sea.
Ukraine does not have any warships, but the threat of sea drones and Neptune cruise missiles has forced the Russian navy to withdraw most of its fleet from Crimea to Novorossiysk, a Russian city on the Black Sea. Ships there are still within range of the Magura.
In June, Russia’s Black Sea Fleet was reduced to around two-thirds of its pre-war strength after sea drones had sunk at least four ships and boats since the start of the year. As a result, Russia increased its patrols of Mi-8 helicopters. In response, Ukraine equipped its sea drones with anti-air missiles.
On 5 December, Ukraine’s Sea Baby drones – a larger variant of the Magura operated by Ukraine’s internal security agency the SBU – fitted with remote-controlled machines guns clashed with Russian helicopters and patrol boats in the Kerch Bay between Crimea and Russia. Several Mi8’s were damaged, with several crew killed on board, the SBU reported.
The Sea Baby drone is most notable for being used to blow up the Kerch Bridge linking Crimea to mainland Russia in 2023.
Sea drones are one of several technologies that Ukraine hopes will turn the tide against Russia with its vast superiority in numbers and resources.
Col Vadym Sukharevskyi, the commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, announced in December that Ukraine had developed a cutting-edge laser weapon capable of shooting down Russian drones and aircraft.
The weapon known as Trident is based on a UK prototype shared with Kyiv this year and can reportedly down aircraft from more than 2km away.
“It really works, it really exists,” Sukharevskyi said at a defence industry conference.
The UK prototype, dubbed DragonFire, is due to be deployed by the British armed forces in 2027.
Grant Shapps, the then Defence Secretary, said in April the system “didn’t have to be 100 per cent perfect in order for the Ukrainians to perhaps get their hands on it.”
DragonFire is said to be able to hit a £1 coin at a distance of over a kilometre for just £10-a-shot.
