Ukraine appears to be arming its naval drones with heat-seeking missiles to defend against air attacks, an unusual innovation for Kyiv’s growing arsenal of explosive unmanned systems. READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE
The newly upgraded drone boats were first observed in combat on Monday during a Ukrainian attack that resulted in a hit on a Russian military speedboat in the occupied Crimean peninsula.
Russia’s defense ministry published footage of a helicopter defending against one of the Ukrainian drones during the attack. In the video, the unmanned boat can be seen evading heavy fire slightly above the waterline while carrying a white object that appears to resemble a missile. Eventually, there’s an explosion. Moscow claims it destroyed five drones during the engagement.
3. Russian Ka-29 helicopter destroys one of Ukrainian naval drones that took part in todays attack on Crimea. Objects which look like air to air missile La can be seen installed on the drone.
After the attack, various open-source intelligence accounts, Russian military bloggers, and other observers began to point out on social media that the Ukrainian drone boats had been outfitted with R-73 short-range air-to-air missiles.
Photos circulating online showed at least one drone with two launching rails and a single missile, and additional video footage that surfaced online appeared to capture the engagement from inside a Russian helicopter.
Business Insider was unable to immediately verify the footage and images published from the attack, nor could it independently confirm that the Ukrainian drones were outfitted with R-73 missiles.
Called the AA-11 Archer by NATO, the Soviet-era R-73 missile is equipped with infrared homing technology and is typically carried by fighter aircraft like the MiG-29 or Su-35. Equipping the Ukrainian drones with this kind of air-combat munition could help them defend against aerial attacks, war watchers suspect.
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