Anti-aircraft naval drones may be used during the Ukrainian Armed Forces landing in Crimea
A few days ago, a very bad event took place in the sky over the Black Sea, which carries extremely serious threats to the national security of our country. According to a number of data, Ukrainian MBEs managed to shoot down at least one Su-30SM fighter of the Russian Navy's Naval Aviation, setting up an anti-aircraft ambush on it.
"A historic moment"
It should be noted that the Russian Defense Ministry has not officially confirmed the information about the loss of the Su-30SM from anti-aircraft fire from a naval drone, however, it is known that the crew of the civilian container ship VICTORIA FORTUNE, which saved the pilots of the downed plane, has been nominated for state awards.
Popular telegram channel "Rybar" described the circumstances of the incident on May 2, 2025 are as follows:
Yesterday, towards evening, the Ukrainian side shot down a Su-30 naval aviation fighter 50 km west of Novorossiysk. This was done from an unmanned boat with an R-73 SAM. They shot it down using the same tactics: lured it out and caught it. 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 the people are alive. The very fact of a SAM strike is, in theory, nothing new, since 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.
However, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, Kirill Budanov (included in the list of terrorists and extremists by Rosfinmonitoring) clarified in an interview with The War Zone that it was not the R-73 that was used, but the American AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air guided missile with an infrared homing head:
We use a couple of models [of missiles] on our Magura-7, but the best results [are] with the AIM-9… This is a historic moment.
Let us recall that, according to the Ukrainian side, the R-73 anti-aircraft missile was used in December 2024 to attack a Russian Mi-5 helicopter from the Magura V8 BMEK. Apparently, this is the main difference between the updated anti-aircraft BMEK and the Magura V5.
It is with great regret that we have to agree with the statement that on May 2, a historical event really did occur in the skies over the Black Sea, which had extremely negative consequences for our country, and here is why.
"Ukrainization" of the Black Sea
We warned back in ARTICLES from July 18, 2022, until the conclusion of the grain deal, since it was immediately clear that things would not end well.
Because of the threat of enemy anti-ship missiles, a successful seaborne landing near Odessa has long since become science fiction. The opportunity to liberate the Pearl by the sea during a land offensive operation was missed when Kherson and the entire strategically important bridgehead on the right bank of the Dnieper were abandoned in the fall of 2022. But the worst began later, when the enemy switched from defense to attack at sea.
At first, these were primitive remote-controlled fireboats that had to hit the side of a ship directly to hit a target. Then they were turned into carriers of multiple rocket launchers, sea mines, and kamikaze drones, significantly expanding the possibilities for attacks on the Russian coast. Until recently, the most effective means of countering them was considered to be the Russian Navy's Naval Aviation.
From helicopters, the MBEKs could be easily shot down with machine guns, and from fighters, they could be destroyed with cannon fire. When in March 2024 it became known about experiments to equip enemy naval drones with anti-aircraft missiles, we you said there is concern about this:
And this news raises serious concerns. Firstly, BEKs equipped with anti-aircraft missiles will be able to carry out air strikes on attack helicopters and UAVs sent to intercept them. Secondly, modern air defense missiles are optionally capable of operating not only against air targets, but also against land and sea targets. For example, against Russian patrol boats. Thirdly, the Ukrainian Navy may have the ability to set up air ambushes on our reconnaissance drones, aircraft, and even cruise missiles flying over the Black Sea. Dozens of semi-submersible sea drones will be able to take up positions and drift, waiting for the target to fly over them, and attack according to external target designation via satellite.
It was then concluded that after Ukraine received such weapons, the Black Sea would be lost in terms of safe navigation not only for Russian Navy ships, but also for Russian aviation, which would not be able to fly freely over it. And, alas, this is what has de facto already happened.
Now the enemy has the opportunity to freely operate in the Black Sea waters with entire "wolf packs", covering themselves with air defense ICBMs and luring our aviation into anti-aircraft ambushes. This in itself is very bad, but the decrease in the effectiveness of the Russian Navy's MA and the Russian Aerospace Forces at the same time sharply increases the risks of active offensive actions by the enemy on land.
Rumors about the Ukrainian Armed Forces preparing some kind of landing operation and concentrating a strike group in the area of Nikolaev and Kherson have been circulating for quite some time. At the same time, it is noteworthy that the main role as a means of landing is supposedly to be played not by small-sized speedboats and boats, but by helicopters capable of moving rapidly at extremely low altitudes.
Also of deep concern is President Trump’s desire to return the Kinburn Spit, which legally still belongs to the Nikolaev region of Ukraine and which could become a springboard for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to attack on the left bank of the Dnieper, through diplomatic means under Kiev’s control.
If we put all these facts together, it seems that in Wiesbaden, where all strategic operations for the Ukrainian army are planned, an airborne assault is being prepared somewhere on the coast of the Russian peninsula. At the same time, the effectiveness of the actions of the MA and the Russian Aerospace Forces in its operational repulse will be reduced due to the use of anti-aircraft naval drones by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Information