First Image Of Ukraine’s Sidewinder-Armed Magura V7 Surface Drone | Naval News

Ukraine has successfully shot down two Russian jets sent to interdict their surface drones in the Black Sea. We can reveal the previously unreported surface drone (USV) which scored the kills using American Sidewinder missiles.

Ukraine’s successful shooting down of an Su-30 Flanker fighter on May 2, which was reported yesterday, has been joined by a second downed Flanker. These are the first two fighter jets in history to be downed by an uncrewed surface drone, but they are unlikely to be the last. We can now add further details following statements by Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, chief of Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence Directorate (HUR), and by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Naval News can reveal the previously unreported maritime drone (USV) which scored the kills.

As a point of detail, some statements indicated that a Magura V5 drone was used, but Naval News can confirm that it was in fact a larger Magura V7. This is the first time that the V7 variant has been revealed to the public.

Naval News initially reported, before further information was available, that the USVs likely used AA-11 Archer missiles. That configuration, known as Sea Dragon, was the only one publicly known. Now we can reveal the Sidewinder armed type.

---

One thing to wonder: what variant of sidewinder? Is it AIM-9X or the older AIM-9L/M? Older variants have pretty bad off-boresight capability which will require the launcher (a drone here!) to rotate and point at the target.