Ukrainian uncrewed boat destroys Russian warplane for first time in history
Ukrainian uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) equipped with R-73 air-to-air missiles are reported to have hit a Russian Su-30 fighter jet near the port of Novorossiysk.
Source: Mezha Media, a technology and IT news platform within Ukrainska Pravda's holding company; Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU); a number of Russian military bloggers
Quote from DIU: "A historic strike has been carried out by soldiers from Group 13, a special DIU unit, using a missile from a Magura uncrewed surface platform. A multi-purpose fighter jet belonging to the aggressor state of Russia, with an estimated cost of about US$50 million, burst into flames in the air and eventually crashed into the sea, to the bottom of the ruthless Neptune's domain."
Background: Last year, DIU officially announced the integration of Soviet-era R-73 air-to-air missiles with infrared guidance onto MAGURA uncrewed surface vessels (USVs). This upgrade enabled Ukrainian forces to destroy two Russian Mi-8 helicopters in December.
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Why The Planes Russia Lost In Ukraine's Drone Strike Are Such A Big Deal
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Once those trucks were parked near the target airbases [Kyiv Post], the roofs were remotely opened, allowing the drones to leap out and kamikaze themselves into the parked planes. Reports indicate that a total of 117 drones assaulted four airbases across the breadth of Russia, damaging or destroying 41 aircraft. While this operation doesn't necessarily change the immediate situation on the ground of the war, it will leave a lasting impact on Russia and, very possibly, the future of warfare. It's a pretty big deal. Read more: These Are The Cheap Cars That Consumer Reports Actually Recommends Buying There are a lot of claims flying around about what planes exactly got hit, not all of which have been verified. Thus far, it seems like the losses definitely include Tupolev Tu-95s (pictured), Tupolev Tu22Ms, and Beriev A-50s. Tu-95s (called "Bears" by NATO) are relics from the 1950s; they don't even use jets, just old-school propellers. 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Strategic bombers are the planes that can deliver huge payloads into a wide area, causing immense devastation. They're how you take out, say, an entire enemy military base. They are also one leg of the so-called nuclear triad, the name of the three ways one country can nuke another: By intercontinental ballistic missile (the big ones in the silos), by submarine, or, in this case, by strat bomber. To be a major global military power, you have to have a vast fleet of strat bombers. Without them, while you still might be able to conduct smaller strikes against smaller targets, you won't be able to seriously threaten hardened installations from the air, and your nuclear strike capability is curtailed. Operation Spiderweb, therefore, hasn't simply been "another" Ukrainian attack; it has struck a direct blow to Russia's ability to project military force at significant scale. That's bad enough for Russia on its own merits. But it's actually worse than it seems. 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Traditional views of military hardpower are being upended by the creativity and heroism of Ukraine's defenders. The future of our world may depend on how other countries, including America, adapt to these lessons. Not surprisingly, Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to retaliate for Ukraine's daring attack. Indeed, on June 7, Russia launched a huge drone and missile strike across Ukraine, hitting the cities of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Lutsk, and others. On June 9, it then launched its single largest drone attack of the entire war; critically, it targeted an airbase far from the border, thus mirroring Spiderweb in that way. Still, let's be clear: "Single largest drone attack of the entire war" means 479 drones, or just nine more than the previous record-holding strike on May 31, before Spiderweb even happened. In other words, Russia is throwing everything it has at Ukraine on a weekly basis anyway; at least so far, its "retaliations" have been just another day at the office. 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Claims Swirl Around Russian Su-35S Flanker Shootdown
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Footage of a Russian Air Force Su-35 fighter burning on the ground after a successful shootdown over Kursk by the Ukrainian Air Force. — OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) June 7, 2025 Flattened Russian Su-35 fighter sitting in a Kursk field after being shot down by the Ukrainian Air Force yesterday. — OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) June 8, 2025 It's notable that the Ukrainian Air Force, while claiming the destruction of the jet, didn't state the weapon that brought it down. While it may have been a crewed fighter, the Ukrainian Air Force is also responsible for long-range surface-to-air missiles that have previously taken a toll on Russian aircraft operating in their own airspace. According to unverified claims, which appear to have first been published in the German newspaper Bild, the Su-35S was shot down by an F-16. 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However, the F-16 and Western-supplied ground-based air defense systems are most relevant in this regard, since the radar plane is fitted with the NATO-standard Link 16 datalink communications system.' 'Link 16 will allow the operators onboard the twin-turboprop Saab 340 AEW&C aircraft to provide a real-time air defense 'picture' and targeting data to compatible systems in the air and on the ground, essentially filling a critical node in a modern integrated air defense system (IADS).' The characteristic 'balance beam' radar fairing on the upper fuselage of the aircraft carries the Saab (previously Ericsson) Erieye active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. This can detect a variety of air and sea targets at ranges of up to around 280 miles, with the aircraft typically operating at an altitude of 20,000 an F-16 downed a Su-35S without AEW&C support, that would arguably be even more impressive. This would also mark the first air-to-air kill by an F-16 in Ukrainian service (other than drones and cruise missiles). Meanwhile, Ukraine has so far lost three F-16s, although it's not clear how many of these were due to enemy engagements. The most recent loss was last month, in an 'emergency situation' that the Ukrainian Air Force said happened after the pilot 'destroyed three air targets and was working on the fourth, using an aircraft cannon.' The pilot is said to have taken the fighter away from a settlement before successfully ejecting. 'Thanks to the prompt work of the search and rescue team, the pilot was quickly found and evacuated,' the Ukrainian Air Force added. 'The pilot's well-being is satisfactory, he is in a safe place, his life and health are not in danger. A commission has been appointed to objectively clarify all the circumstances, and it has already begun work.' In April, Ukrainian F-16 pilot Pavlo Ivanov, 26, 'was killed in battle defending his native land from the invaders,' the Ukrainian Air Force stated at the time. In August 2024, F-16 pilot Oleksiy Mes died during what was, at that time, Russia's largest aerial barrage of the war. Before his F-16 went down, Mes, who went by the callsign 'Moonfish,' shot down three Russian cruise missiles and a one-way attack drone, the Ukrainian Air Force claimed at the time. Oleksii Mes', a pilot of the Ukrainian Air Force, heroically fought his last battle in the skies. On August 26, during a massive russian missile and air strike, Oleksii shot down three cruise missiles and one strike UAV. He saved countless Ukrainians from deadly russian… — Ukrainian Air Force (@KpsZSU) August 29, 2024 In all, around 85 operational F-16s have been promised to Ukraine. That total includes 24 from the Netherlands, 19 from Denmark, and 12 from Norway (with the same country providing 10 more that will be used for spare parts), while Belgium says it will supply 30. Of this grand total, it should be noted that at least some of the jets are not being sent to Ukraine but are instead being used for training Ukrainian pilots, primarily at the European F-16 Training Center (EFTC) in Romania. The U.S. is now donating airframes it says are not airworthy, which you can read more about here. Generally, few details have been released about how Ukraine is using its F-16s, although official and unofficial imagery reveals specific details of load-outs used in operational air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. The type has also been flying combined air operations and has been noted on various occasions lobbing Small Diameter Bombs (SDB). Provided that an F-16 downed the Su-35S, it would have almost certainly used an AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM). This is the aircraft's primary air-to-air weapon, carried alongside the AIM-9X Sidewinder and the earlier AIM-9L/M Sidewinder infrared-guided air-to-air missiles. The same missiles are also used by Ukrainian F-16s flying regular counter-drone and counter-cruise-missile sorties. As regards AMRAAM, even before F-16s were delivered to Ukraine, TWZ noted some of the advantages this missile would bring for the Ukrainian Air Force: 'Considering Ukraine's air force is being haunted by the long-range R-37 air-to-air missile, which Russian aircraft are firing at Ukrainian aircraft at great distances to limit their own risk, giving Ukraine a longer stick — any longer stick — would certainly be prized. It is what Ukrainian fighter pilots seem to believe would make the biggest difference, too.' Ukrainian Air Force F-16AM Fighting Falcon returning from a combat air patrol, having expended one of its AIM-120C-series AMRAAM missiles. Appears to be the first confirmation that Ukrainian Falcons are sporting the more advanced and longer-ranged C-series AMRAAMS. — OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) February 11, 2025 There is also the very real possibility that it was a ground-based air defense system used by the Ukrainian Air Force to bring down the Russian jet. In the past, the Patriot air defense system, in particular, has been used to down fixed-wing tactical aircraft and helicopters flying within Russian airspace, and it has reportedly successfully targeted aircraft at a range of around 100 miles. Starting in May 2023, Ukraine began pushing forward Patriot batteries to reach deep into Russian-controlled airspace. Most dramatically, a string of Russian aircraft was downed over Russian territory that borders northeastern Ukraine. In December 2023, Ukrainian Patriot operators used similar tactics against tactical jets flying over the northwestern Black Sea. Regardless, after many months of waiting for the F-16 and repeated refusals from Washington, Ukraine has rapidly introduced the type to operational service. A Ukrainian F-16 pilot has given an interview for the first the interview, the F-16 pilot, whose name is withheld for security reasons, revealed that he regularly conducts aerial reconnaissance flights over Russian targets and troops. Nearly every day, he carries out… — WarTranslated (@wartranslated) March 26, 2025 It was less than a year ago that the F-16 was first confirmed as being in the country, and since then, the type's mission scope has expanded. Ukraine is clearly grappling with the challenge of introducing an altogether new, Western combat aircraft, differing in many respects from its Soviet-era equipment. Regardless of whether or not an F-16 was involved in the demise of the Su-35S at the weekend, the type's significance in the air war is only set to grow, as experience builds and additional examples are delivered. Contact the author: thomas@
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Russia has plans to test NATO's resolve, German intelligence chief warns
By Thomas Escritt BERLIN (Reuters) -Russia is determined to test the resolve of the NATO alliance, including by extending its confrontation with the West beyond the borders of Ukraine, the Germany's foreign intelligence chief told the Table Media news organization. Bruno Kahl, head of the Federal Intelligence Service, said his agency had clear intelligence indications that Russian officials believed the collective defence obligations enshrined in the NATO treaty no longer had practical force. "We are quite certain, and we have intelligence showing it, that Ukraine is only a step on the journey westward," Kahl told Table Media in a podcast interview. "That doesn't mean we expect tank armies to roll westwards," he added. "But we see that NATO's collective defence promise is to be tested." Germany, already the second-largest provider of armaments and financial support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, has pledged to step up its support further under the new government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, promising to help Ukraine develop new missiles that could strike deep into Russian territory. Without detailing the nature of his intelligence sources, Kahl said Russian officials were envisaging confrontations that fell short of a full military engagement that would test whether the U.S. would really live up to its mutual aid obligations under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. "They don't need to dispatch armies of tanks for that," he said. "It's enough to send little green men to Estonia to protect supposedly oppressed Russian minorities." Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea involved occupation of buildings and offices by Russian soldiers in unmarked uniforms and civilian clothes, who came to be known as the "little green men" when Moscow initially denied their identity. Kahl did not specify which officials in Moscow were thinking along these lines. Merz, who visited Donald Trump in Washington last week, pushed back against the U.S. president's assertion that Ukraine and Russia were like two infants fighting, telling Trump that where Ukraine targeted Moscow's military, Russia bombed Ukraine's cities. Kahl said his contacts with U.S. counterparts had left him convinced they took the Russian threat seriously. "They take it as seriously as us, thank God," he said.
