Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) reports achieving a historic milestone in drone warfare on 31 December 2024, as its maritime drone successfully destroyed a Russian helicopter during operations in the Black Sea.
This engagement marks the first-ever confirmed destruction of an aerial target by a maritime drone in military history.
According to HUR, its special operations unit “Group 13” employed a Magura V5 maritime drone equipped with R-73 SeeDragon short-range air-to-air missiles near Cape Tarkhankut in Russian-occupied Crimea.
The operation resulted in the destruction of a Russian Mi-8 helicopter, while a second similar aircraft sustained combat damage but managed to return to its base airfield.
A video published by HUR shows the helicopter attempting to attack the drones with its firearms before being struck by a missile launched from a Ukrainian naval drone, causing it to crash into the sea.
Maritime drones
Previously, Ukraine’s maritime drone fleet, in coordination with missile and aerial drone strikes, decimated a significant portion of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, forcing the remaining vessels to retreat to remote bases on the sea’s eastern coast.
Initially, the sea drones were defenseless against Russian helicopters and firearms, but Ukraine has been actively developing its naval drone capabilities, with previous evidence showing experimental platforms equipped with various weapons systems, including Soviet-era heat-seeking anti-air missiles, unguided rockets for coastal attacks, machine guns, and FPV drones.
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