UKRAINE has started using kamikaze sea drones bristling with warplane missiles and rockets to attack land and air targets.
Dramatic new footage shows a fearsome jerry-rigged drone firing on Russian positions in a nighttime sea battle.
The moment a marine drone fires an anti-aircraft missile in a sea-air battleEast2West
A Russian aircraft attempts to shoot the weapon downEast2West
East2WestUkraine is seeking to counter threats to their sea drone fleet from Russian choppers and planes[/caption]
Other footage showing a Russian chopper battling Ukraine’s new ‘Archer’ missile-shooting marine drones
The grainy film shows the small, but powerful unmanned surface vessel (USV) launching a missile at a target.
A Russian aircraft films the incredible scene from above in the Kremlin-occupied Kinburn Spit area of the Mykolaiv region as it attempts to blitz the fast-moving weapon.
Ukrainian organisation United24 – which helps to fundraise for marine drones – today announced that Sea Baby drones now equipped with rocket launchers had also been used in the area.
They said that the new creation, a product of Ukraine’s security service and navy, had been “successfully tested these new modifications against Russian positions at the Kinburn Spit”.
Alongside pictures showing off the heavily loaded beasts of the sea, they wrote: “Beautiful, aren’t they?”
Until now, Ukraine’s fleet of sea drones have been almost defenceless to attacks from above.
It comes soon after the first footage emerged of boat drones shooting heat-seeking ‘Archer’ missiles in the Black Sea.
Incredible footage from the skirmish showed a Russian Kamov Ka-27 helicopter circling over the drone, attempting to blast it to bits with a canon.
Russia has been using choppers as the main means to counter the increasing Ukrainian threat from kamikaze drones targeting key infrastructure.
They approach their targets by stealth and swerve at high speed in the final assault to avoid being shot if detected.
Such drones have been developed solely by Ukraine – now world leader in the technology – for use in the war against the superior forces of Russia.
Russia fears that the missile-carrying sea drones could be used to finally topple Vladimir Putin’s prized £3billion Crimean Bridge or the Saki military airfield which is close to the peninsula’s western coast.
U24_gov_uaSea Baby drones – pictured loaded up with rockets – are believed to be behind the recent attacks in the Mykolaiv region[/caption]
U24_gov_uaThe new weapons filmed firing on the ground[/caption]
A a missile-carrying marine drone was filmed earlier this month in the Black Sea
East2WestA Russian Kamov Ka-27 helicopter strikes a Ukrainian drone believed to be carrying ‘Archer’ heat-seeking missiles[/caption]
The R-73 missiles were developed as air-to-air weapons for use in aerial dogfights by Su-27 or MiG-29 fighter aircraft.
Earlier this month, a Russian high speed naval patrol boat was “destroyed by a Ukrainian missile-carrying kamikaze sea drone”, according to reports.
Another was blown up by a patrolling Ka-27 helicopter.
Footage from a Russian helicopter showed how a machine gunner shot at a Ukrainian drone from a Ka-29 helicopter.
Regular sea drones have already caused major damage to Putin’s Black Sea Fleet during the war.
A Russian source said the use of missiles on drones poses a “completely new level of threat” to Russian helicopters seeking to hunt the unmanned boats.
It comes as The Sun recently spoke to Ukraine’s security service on how its marine drones have changed the tides of the battle for the Black Sea.
In an exclusive interview, an SBU general – who goes by his call sign “Hunter” for security reasons – said Putin’s beloved Crimean Bridge “is doomed”.
The spy added that Ukraine’s homegrown fleet of Sea Baby drones are essential to the plot to take the 12-mile monster down.
THE BLACK SEA BATTLE
WEAVING and gliding unseen and unheard through dark waters, Ukraine’s naval drones have become Russia’s greatest menace in the Black Sea.
Without any real functioning navy of its own, Ukraine has managed to wipe out a third of Russia’s once fearsome Black Sea Fleet – including a submarine – and the rest appears to be on the run.
Kyiv’s specially-designed marine drones heavily laden with explosives have been blasting Russian targets, blowing up to £100million vessels out the water and even attacking Putin’s prized bridge to Crimea.
Remotely piloted using GPS and cameras, the lethal semi-submersibles are guided towards their targets and detonate on impact.
And almost every major hit has been perfectly captured on PoV footage onboard, serving up repeated humiliations for the Kremlin.
An SBU general, whose call sign is ‘Hunter’, told The Sun how marine drones have helped turn the tides of the Black Sea battle in Ukraine’s favour.
He said: “At the start of the full-scale invasion, control over the Black Sea gave Russia significant advantages, including a fire control over the Ukrainian coast and the ability to blockade our trade routes.
“That’s why President of Ukraine Voloydmyr Zelensky set us a task – end Russia’s dominance in the Black Sea.”
The general added: “Unmanned surface vehicles have changed the course of naval warfare.”
In a recent statement to The Sun, the head of Ukraine’s security service, the SBU, Vasily Malyuk said: “Let the Russians wait for another ‘clap’.
“We never repeat our operations and if Russia is modifying their defence against our sea drones, we, of course, go one step ahead.
“Everything has its time, you will see everything.”
The SBU unveiled its newest generation of Sea Babies last month that are now packed with one ton of explosives with a longer range
The new lethal machines ‘can reach anywhere in the Black Sea’
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