Ukraine’s army intelligence chief on Might 3 claimed that that two Russian Su-30SM fighter plane have been shot down by Magura-7 drone boats over the Black Sea, after the unmanned warships carried out a profitable ambush utilizing modified AIM-9 Sidewinder infrared guided missiles. If confirmed, this could mark the world’s first ever shootdown of fighter plane utilizing drone boats. Head of Ukraine’s Protection Intelligence Directorate Kyrylo Budanov asserted that the operation was “a historic second,” and represented the primary operational kill involving the AIM-9 fired from a sea drone. Russian sources have confirmed the lack of a Su-30, with each pilots surviving and being recovered, though the lack of a second fighter, and the means by which the plane have been focused stays unconfirmed. With Ukraine and Russia having each persistently exaggerated their victories and downplayed their losses, a dependable report on the engagement is unlikely to emerge.
The flexibility to threaten excessive efficiency fighters just like the Su-30 utilizing very low value property equivalent to drone boats armed with infrared guided weapons highlights the prevailing development in the direction of such plane dealing with rising threats from adversaries’ uneven property. The Su-30SM has a manufacturing value estimated at roughly $12 million per fighter, though this varies extensively relying on alternate charges. Over 100 of the plane have been procured because the late 2000s to serve within the Russian Aerospace Forces and the Russian Navy. Su-30SMs have been used to focus on Ukrainian drone boats within the Black Sea prior to now, at instances when the ships weren’t outfitted for air defence duties.
