Watch: Ukrainian naval drone battles Russian helicopter

Ukraine has started arming its naval drones with anti-aircraft missiles as it looks to counter Russia’s dominance of the skies above the Black Sea.

A video released by the Russian Defence Ministry showed a gritty dogfight playing out in the Black Sea between a Ukrainian drone armed with at least one missile and a Russian helicopter.

Against an azure blue sky, the tiny Ukrainian drone is seen swerving and skidding across the sea as it tries to dodge machine gun fire from the chasing attack helicopter.

Video footage shot by the two pilots and later released by Russian Telegram channels showed the helicopter hunting down the Ukrainian drone as bullets smashed into the sea around it, sending plumes of water into the air.

Eventually, the drone slows and halts, before it is then raked by more gunfire. It catches fire and then explodes, sending smoke, water and fire up towards the hulking helicopter which just manages to lurch out of the way.

Tymofiy Mylovanov, President of the Kyiv School of Economics and an analyst of the Ukraine war, said it was the first time that a Ukrainian maritime drone had been spotted armed with an anti-aircraft missile.

“Ukrainians have adapted marine drones to carry air-to-air Soviet missiles,” he said. “Many believe[d] this to be impossible until today.”

‘Rapid evolution’ of drones

Ukraine’s naval “kamikaze drone” programme has been one of its great successes in the war and is credited with helping to drive the bulk of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet from its original base in Crimea to the port of Novorossiysk, 200 miles away, where the Russian Navy has built special drone defence barriers.

Mr Mylovanov said that one of the strengths of the Ukrainian programme was its quick ability to learn from failures and to adapt.

“We should now expect a rapid evolution of Ukrainian marine drones to carry other drones, ship missiles, and more air defence,” he said.

Russia’s main TV channels broadcast the video footage in an apparent attempt to show its defences countering Ukrainian threats. The location and date of the naval dogfight are uncertain.

H I Sutton, an independent naval analyst, described the missile system fixed on the Ukrainian drone as a “FrankenSAM”.

“Until now the unmanned surface vehicles had been almost defenceless against aircraft, and Russia has air superiority over much of the Black Sea,” he said.

“But the addition of air defences aboard some unmanned surface vehicles may make them even harder for Russia to counter.”

The weapons attached to the Ukrainian drone were been identified as two AA-11 Archer missiles, which Mr Sutton described as a “Soviet-era dogfighting missile” with a range of up to 10 miles when fired from a maritime drone, rather than a fighter jet.

“The actual engagement ranges would be limited by onboard sensors, so likely much shorter. All the same, it is likely generally effective as a surface-to-air missile,” he said.

Vladimir Putin, who was inaugurated as Russia’s president for the fifth time on Tuesday, appears increasingly confident that he will win his war in Ukraine but is frustrated by the inability of his Black Sea Fleet to defend itself against Ukrainian attacks.

This year he sacked the commander of the Black Sea Fleet after a series of missile strikes destroyed several warships.