Ukraine’s Military Intelligence equipped a Magura V5 Unmanned Surface Vessel with R-73 air-to-air missiles and says it scored a kill against a Russian Mi-8 helicopter, with another helicopter damaged.
On Dec. 31, 2024, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine posted on its Telegram and X accounts a video from Ukraine’s Military Intelligence, showing the downing of Russian Mi-8 helicopter by a naval drone, armed with R-73 air-to-air missiles repurposed as improvised surface-to-air weapons.
The operation
The video is taken from the onboard sensors of the naval drone, which the MoD says is a Magura V5 Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV). The operation, according to the MoD, happened near Cape Tarkhankut, close to Chornomorske on the western upper tip of Crimea, south of Kherson and north of Sevastopol and Yevpatoria.
A historic strike: @DI_Ukraine warriors destroyed an aerial target using a Magura V5 naval drone.
A russian Mi-8 helicopter was destroyed using R-73 “SeeDragon” missiles near Cape Tarkhankut in temporarily occupied Crimea.
Another enemy helicopter was damaged and returned to… pic.twitter.com/AMOiuVEzWe
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) December 31, 2024
At the beginning of the video, splashes from near-misses from the onboard guns of the Russian helicopters can be seen around the drone. Helicopters can be very effective at countering both aerial and naval drones, shooting at them with onboard cannons (in the case of attack helicopters, like the Mi-24 Hind used by Ukraine or the AH-64 Apache used by Israel), or even with their lateral-mounted machineguns, as in the case of Russian transport helicopters, repeatedly used to attack Ukrainian USVs.
This time, however, the naval drone literally packed a punch to fight back, in the form of air-to-air missiles.
Already seen in early May 2024, the Magura V5 USVs in this configuration are armed with a couple of launch rails for the missiles, tilted and pointed upwards towards the front.
Russia has already lost various airplanes and helicopters over the Black Sea in recent months, including a Mi-24 Hind helicopter lost while hunting USVs (although the Russian MoD officially categorized that loss as an incident). This, however, is the first time that an helicopter is seen while being hit by these drone-launched weapons.
In the Black Sea, Russian forces spotted a Ukrainian USV armed with a twin rail launcher for R-73 all-aspect IR homing air-to-air missiles.
Based on the footage, some Ukrainian USVs now possess a nascent SAM capability, likely able to target low and slow Russian helicopters. pic.twitter.com/eEsCuuh1Wv
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) May 6, 2024
The Vympel R-73 (known by NATO with the reporting name of AA-11 Archer) is a short-range air-to-air IR-guided missile, originally developed in the Soviet Union and in service since 1984. It has a reported range, when fired from airplanes, of at least 30 kilometers, and an 8 kg warhead, similar to its Western counterparts like the ASRAAM, IRIS-T and AIM-9 Sidewinder. The R-73 replaced the Vympel R-60 (AA-8 Aphid for NATO), an older and shorter ranged (from 4 to 8 kilometers) IR-guided missile.
Named “SeeDragon” (although it could be a typo, with the correct name being “Sea Dragon”) in the post by the Ukrainians, the weapon has been likely modified to interface with the USV. Russian Milblogger Fighterbomber already reported in the past that Ukraine has been able to install R-60 and R-73 missiles on USVs.
The use of air-to-air missiles from ground positions is not new to Ukraine either. For instance, Ukraine is already using the AIM-9X as ground-launched missiles fired by NASAMS (National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System), as well as modified 9K33M3 Osa-AKM systems equipped with the R-73.
Modified Sidewinders were used in the American MIM-72 Chaparral, while Israel has fielded the Spyder system with modified Python-5 IR missiles and France employs modified VL-MICA IR missiles for naval and ground-launched applications. Similarly, Germany is producing an air defense system based on ground-launched versions of the IRIS-T missiles, with various units already donated to Ukraine. The Yemeni Houthi terrorist group also repurposed air-to-air missiles to shoot at Saudi airplanes and American drones.
The IRIS-T air defense system which Ukraine received from Germany is already in use and protecting the south of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/uhY2bHk3OH
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) October 14, 2022
In the video, the Ukrainian Magura drone is later seen launching the missiles towards the two Russian Mi-8 helicopters. One is seen launching flares, before an explosion confirms the hit, and the helicopter is seen splashing in the water a short distance away. Another Russian helicopter is then hit, but according to Ukraine it was able to return to base, albeit damaged.
The Mil Mi-8 in the video is a Soviet-era medium twin-turbine helicopter, usually used for transport or in some instances to lob rockets at enemy forces, but recently also used as an air-to-air platform against drones. With over 17,000 airframe made, and production still continuing today, the Mi-8 family is the world’s most-produced helicopter and is used by Russia, along by many other countries, including Ukraine itself.
The Magura V5
A model of the MAGURA V5 was first displayed at the DSEI (Defence & Security Equipment International) 2023 exhibition held in September of that year in the UK. This is the latest variant of MAGURA, which stands for Maritime Autonomous Guard Unmanned Robotic Apparatus.
The system is described as a “next-generation, multipurpose, USV developed by STE (SpetsTechnoExport),” and is claimed to have has a speed of 42 knots and a range of 833 km. A Magura V5 was photographed after being washed ashore around Crimea’s Sevastopol naval base in Nov. 2023.
The thin, elongated, V-shaped hydrodynamic hull has an integrated electro-optical device, carrying 320-kilogram explosives, and has a water-jet type propulsion, instead of rotary boat propellers. Of the three distinctive flat dishes on the top, two are reported to be Starlink terminals, which Ukraine has already installed on its previous kamikaze boats.
The USV has seen its involvement in many notable events, sinking multiple Russian vessels. Among these are the the Tarantul-III class missile corvette Ivanovets, the landing ship Tsezar Kunikov and the patrol ship Sergey Kotov.
