In the morning hours, the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced that a Magura V5 naval drone reportedly shot down a Russian Armed Forces Mil Mi-8 helicopter near Crimea using R-73 “SeeDragon” air-to-air missiles. Ukrainian sources released videos captured by the drone showing the engagement, indicating that another helicopter was damaged during the episode but managed to return to an airfield.
Throughout the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Ukraine’s use of asymmetric means and capabilities has been a key resource to counter the numerical and resource superiority of the Russian Armed Forces. This includes the deployment of various types of unmanned aerial, ground, and naval vehicles, which have become increasingly sophisticated and acquired new capabilities as the conflict progresses. One of the latest examples of this is the Magura V5 naval drone.
The Magura V5 is one of several naval drones deployed by Ukrainian forces in the Black Sea. Originally designed as an anti-surface platform, it has played a significant role in recent months, carrying out numerous attacks against units of the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet and against port facilities.
For instance, in February, the sinking of the landing ship Caesar Kunikov and the corvette Ivanovets by drones deployed by the 13th Group of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine was confirmed. Later, in March, a similar attack on the patrol ship Sergei Kotov was also reported.
Returning to today’s incident, this marks the first instance in which a Magura V5 naval drone, according to the Ukrainian account, successfully carried out an attack on an aircraft. Specifically, this was achieved through the launch of an R-73 air-to-air missile, renamed “SeeDragon.” This is noteworthy because the R-73 is one of the primary weapons carried by Ukrainian Air Force MiG-29 and Su-27 fighter jets and was not originally designed to serve as a surface-to-air weapon.
The adaptation of various Russian/Soviet-origin systems to other platforms is not an isolated case. In the case of the R-73, it was recently confirmed that this short-range air-to-air missile had been adapted for use by a 9K33 Osa air defense system. These efforts, according to reports, are part of the so-called “Hornet” program, which aims to compensate for the shortage of 9M33M3 missiles used by this system by replacing them with other missiles of similar origin, for which large stockpiles still exist. It is worth noting that during the Soviet era, many components of the R-73, such as its infrared seeker, were manufactured in Ukraine.
Regarding the installation of R-73 missile launch systems on Magura V5 naval drones, no further details have been provided about how the integration process was carried out. However, the images clearly show the launch of the R-73 missile and the deployment of countermeasures by one of the Russian helicopters. As for the unit involved, it is once again the 13th Group of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine.
Another detail that stands out is that the naval drone appears to be under attack, either by the helicopters or another unidentified means in the footage. It can only be speculated that equipping the drone with a missile launcher aims to provide it with a form of self-defense to counteract the tactics adopted by Russian naval forces to detect and neutralize such drones. However, without further data on the incident, this remains speculation.
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