Ukraine Reports World’s First Drone Boat Kill Against Fighters: Two Su-30SM Jets Claimed Shot Down

Ukraine’s military intelligence chief on May 3 claimed that that two Russian Su-30SM fighter aircraft were shot down by Magura-7 drone boats over the Black Sea, after the unmanned warships conducted a successful ambush using modified AIM-9 Sidewinder infrared guided missiles. If confirmed, this would mark the world’s first ever shootdown of fighter aircraft using drone boats. Head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate Kyrylo Budanov asserted that the operation was “a historical moment,” and represented the first operational kill involving the AIM-9 fired from a sea drone. Russian sources have confirmed the loss of a Su-30, with both pilots surviving and being recovered, although the loss of a second fighter, and the means by which the aircraft were targeted remains unconfirmed. With Ukraine and Russia having both consistently exaggerated their victories and downplayed their losses, a reliable report on the engagement is unlikely to emerge. 

The ability to threaten high performance fighters like the Su-30 using very low cost assets such as drone boats armed with infrared guided weapons highlights the prevailing trend towards such aircraft facing growing threats from adversaries’ asymmetric assets. The Su-30SM has a production cost estimated at approximately $12 million per fighter, although this varies widely depending on exchange rates. Over 100 of the aircraft have been procured since the late 2000s to serve in the Russian Aerospace Forces and the Russian Navy. Su-30SMs have been used to target Ukrainian drone boats in the Black Sea in the past, at times when the ships were not equipped for air defence duties.