Ukrainian USVs make history by shooting down Russian Su-30 fighters
Peter Felstead
On 2 May 2025 operators within Group 13, a special unit with Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (DIU), destroyed two Russian Su-30 fighters operating in the Black Sea region using missiles launched from unmanned surface vessels (USVs).
The downed Russian Sukhois are almost certainly the first fixed-wing aircraft in history to be shot down by USVs (in December 2024 the DIU claimed that it had used an adapted air-to-air missile launched from a USV to bring down a Russian Mi-8 helicopter).
The news of the Sukhoi shootdowns was announced by the DIU on 3 May, supported by video imagery depicting an Su-30 being engaged over the sea.
Although Ukrainian Magura V5 USVs are known to have been fitted in the past with Soviet-designed R-73 short-range air-to-air missiles (AAMs) adapted to be surface launched, Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, the DIU chief, explained a few days after the operation that the systems used to down the Russian Su-30s were, in fact, adapted US-designed AIM-9 Sidewinder AAMs launched from Magura V7 USVs.
The Magura V7 is an enlarged version of the Magura V5 that is around 8 m long, compared to 5.5 m for the V5, and which can be fitted with two launch rails for adapted AAMs. A typical AIM-9 Sidewinder would have a range of up to 35 km, although the range of a surface-launched AIM-9 would be less than this.
Although the Magura V7 would, like its predecessor, be able to carry other weapon fits, it is unclear at this stage whether the type is also used as an explosives-laden ‘kamikaze drone’, as is the Magura V5, or whether the larger vessel is reserved for operations such as anti-aircraft missions.
In an interview with The War Zone military website, Gen Budanov said one Su-30 was shot down over the Black Sea, with its crew rescued by a civilian vessel, while the other one was reportedly shot down over occupied Crimea, which resulted in the deaths of both crew members.
Gen Budanov explained that Group 13 is using multiple missile types from its Magura V7s, but added that “the best performance so far has come from the AIM-9”.
