Ukraine Says It Has Stepped Up Its Drone Game, Again

Ukraine over the past three years has developed a wide range of drones and robotic weapons that have been deployed against Russian forces to deadly effect.

The latest addition to this remote-controlled arsenal is the Magura V7, a homemade weapon system that launches antiaircraft missiles from a 24-foot remote-controlled speedboat. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, presented it to reporters on May 14.

The system shot down two Russian Su-30 warplanes last month, according to the Ukrainian agency and independent analysts, in what is believed to be the first-ever successful use in combat by a drone boat against a fighter jet. Russia has not acknowledged the hits, but one was reported by Vladislav Shurygin, a Russian military expert.

The use of the new systems is part of Ukraine’s broader innovation involving drones and their use. Last weekend, Ukraine hit airfields from eastern Siberia to Russia’s western border with a swarm of drones that it said it secretly planted on Russian territory. It was one of the war’s most audacious strikes by Ukrainian forces. Although drones of that type have been used before, the airfield attack was the first time they had been deployed hidden onboard trucks and transported overland to launch sites deep inside Russia.

The new sea drones are a technological as well as a tactical innovation.

The new drones that were presented to reporters look like sleek green speedboats, with missiles mounted on the sides and an electronic eye in the center. In December, Ukraine said an earlier version of the new drones shot down two Russian Mi-8 helicopters in the Black Sea.

The weapon, one of its operators explained at the presentation on May 14, can linger for days in the open water, tracking Russian fighter jets and then ambushing them.