Our Best Look Yet At Ukraine's AIM-9 Sidewinder-Toting Magura-7 Drone Boat
Ukraine's Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR) released new video and details about the Magura-7 uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) the spy agency claims it used to down two Russian Su-30 Flanker multirole fighters. The revelations came during a ceremony to introduce a new stamp honoring Ukraine's USV campaign that offered our best view yet of the Magura-7 in various configurations.
GUR commander 'Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, and a team of special service specialists publicly presented the Magura series of naval strike drones for the first time,' GUR stated on Telegram Thursday.
The video shows a Magura-7 armed with two live AIM-9M Sidewinder infrared-guided air-to-air missiles for use as surface-to-air interceptors. TWZ was the first to report on the claimed use of AIM-9-toting Magura-7s to shoot down a pair of Flankers flying over the Black Sea, in an exclusive interview with Budanov, which you can read here. That engagement marked the first time a drone boat destroyed a combat jet.
A previous image that emerged of the Magura-7 armed with two Sidewinder was much lower quality which you can see below.
The boat displayed by GUR at the ceremony also features the missiles loaded on aircraft-style launch rails that would be elevated at an upward angle before launch, but they do not appear to provide any lateral traverse. This is significant since, as TWZ has pointed out previously, the M variant of the Sidewinder lacks the high-off-boresight (HOBS) capabilities of the infrared-guided R-73 (AA-11 Archer) short-range air-to-air missile. In December, GUR claimed it downed a Russian Mi-8 Hip helicopter fired from a Magura V5 USV operated by GUR's Group 13 unit.
From our most recent coverage of the Magura-7: 'Missiles with HOBS engagement capability feature articulating seekers that make it easier for them to lock onto dynamic targets when loaded on a fixed launch rail. As such, the AIM-9M-armed Magura-7 looks as if it would have to be physically pointed relatively precisely in the direction of the target before launch. Meeting the parameters for a successful intercept from this platform could be very challenging, especially with the added factor of the drone boat bouncing up and down on the waves. Getting the targeted aircraft at the right height and distance to enter into the seeker's more limited viewing envelope wouldn't be that easy and it may require some amount of luck, at least based on the general launcher configuration we are seeing.'
In addition to displaying a Magura-7 with two Sidewinders, GUR also showed off for the first time one of the USVs, also known as drone boats, equipped with a machine gun turret.
In addition to displaying the Magura-7s, the GUR video also offered new details about these drone boats, answering questions we previously raised. As we recently surmised, it is roughly 23.5 feet long. In addition, it has a range of up to 540 nautical miles and can operate autonomously for at least 48 hours and up to seven days with a generator. Weighing more than 2,800 pounds unloaded and nearly 7,500 pounds loaded, it can carry a 1,433-pound payload.
The 270 hp diesel engine can generate a top speed of 39 knots and a cruising speed of 23 knots, which it can do up to Sea State 3. Under the Beaufort Scale, that means a 'gentle breeze' of up to 10 knots and maximum wave heights of three feet.
It has multiple video feeds for operators to exploit, with day/night gyro-stabilized turret — likely for general surveillance and target acquisition cueing — and two staring video systems. Its product card also listed 'acoustic environment monitoring systems.' It is controlled remotely with an encrypted satellite link, according to the card. We spotted no less than three planar satellite antenna's atop the boat's hull in previous imagery.
The newly revealed specifications confirm our previous observation that the Magura-7 is larger than the Magura-5 with a greater range. The Magura-5 has a reported length of 18 feet and has a top speed of 42 knots, a cruising speed of 22 knots, and a range of 450 nautical miles.
During the stamp ceremony, the commander of Group 13, GUR's drone boat unit, talked about how the campaign against Russia developed.
'It was a challenge for us to start our work from scratch,' he said, said the commander, identified only by his callsign, Thirteenth. 'Previously, there was no such experience anywhere, there was no place to draw information. But two years ago, we first hit the Russian reconnaissance ship Ivan Khurs. And today we can confidently say that the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Group 13, has displaced the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation to their bases. They are constrained in their actions, they do not perform any tasks as intended.'
You can watch Ukraine's video of that encounter below.
When the russian reconnaissance ship "Ivan Khurs" met a Ukrainian drone.Indeed, a perfect match! pic.twitter.com/mW3clD0vHh
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) May 25, 2023
During 'two years of combat use of various modifications of the Magura drone, the masters of military intelligence hit a total of 17 sea and air targets of the aggressor state of Russia,' Thirteenth claimed, adding that '15 of which were completely destroyed.'
In addition to the aforementioned Flankers and Mi-8, that list includes 'large ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet – Sergey Kotov, Ivanovets, Tsezar Kunikov and other vessels. The damage inflicted on the enemy is estimated at more than half a billion dollars.'
The War Zone cannot independently verify these claims, but there is no doubt that Ukraine's drone boats have done significant damage to Russian forces.
Russian military correspondents posted the following video of the Tsezar Kunikov engagement, which took place in March 2024.
Kremlin military correspondents have published a video of an alleged Ukrainian naval drone attack on the Big Landing Ship "Tsezar Kunikov" on February 14In the video, armed men try to hit surface targets with firearms, then an explosion is heard and a fire starts.The… https://t.co/K6YzP05R7m pic.twitter.com/vkRhozeCb5
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 6, 2024
Ukrainian military expert Mykhailo Samus suggested that 'the evolution and combat successes of drones in the Black Sea waters are causing a revision of naval doctrines in other countries of the world.'
'It is obvious,' he surmised, 'that the classic large-tonnage fleet of the 20th century is losing to the latest unmanned vehicles. Thanks to the 'Maguras' and other naval drones, a doctrinal shift has already taken place.'
Drone boats, he added, are 'a modern fleet of the 21st century. I am convinced that right now, during a large-scale war, Ukraine and the GUR of the Ministry of Defense as a leader in this regard have really made a revolution…Patrolling the sea area, controlling sea communications, destroying air and sea targets… All this is already a reality. This is a new doctrine that has become a reality in Ukraine.'
The success of Ukraine's USV program is not lost on the U.S. Navy. GUR's drone boat campaign was a major topic of conversation earlier this month at the (Special Operations Forces) SOF Week conference held earlier this month in Tampa. Several drone boats, like the one in the video below, were displayed for SOF leaders.
'We've learned a lot from international partners and current events,' Navy Cmdr. Michael Linn said during a PEO Maritime panel at the conference. 'So I want to make sure that we're prioritizing rapid, iterative improvements and adaptations that are critical to success. You know, everyone likely saw the news out of Ukraine … that a Magura 7 USV shot down an SU-30 fighter with a SAM. That's another major milestone coming out of [Ukraine].'
It remains unclear how many Magura-7s GUR is operating, how many are fitted with AIM-9s or machine guns or the exact role anticipated for the machine gun-equipped variants.
'Sorry, but that information is classified,' Budanov told us.
Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com
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