Naval drones with machine guns attack Russian aviation near Kerch

9 December, 2024 SeaBaby surface drone. Photo credits: SSU The Security Service of Ukraine's naval drones attacked Russian aircraft and boats in the Kerch Bay of the temporarily occupied Crimea.

The video was published on the SSU's official YouTube channel. As part of a special operation by the Security Service of Ukraine on the night of December 5-6, new drones with a machine gun module were used. To attack Russian aviation, Sea Baby naval drones were equipped with a remote-controlled module with a heavy machine gun, probably of 12.7 mm caliber.

For accurate firing at air and surface targets, the module was integrated with a ballistic program for automatic targeting and target lock-on. Despite the Russians' detection of SSU naval drones, Russian aircraft were unable to get close enough to the Ukrainians because of the use of a machine gun turret.

The helicopters that made a close approach were immediately fired upon, and thanks to an advanced fire control system, some of them were damaged. According to the SSU, intercepted radio exchanges of the Russian military indicate the presence of wounded and killed on the fired upon helicopters. Also, naval drones managed to hit a barge used by Russians to transport personnel, vehicles and relevant military equipment, as well as to carry out repairs to the Crimean bridge.

In addition to helicopters, the Russians also scrambled Su-30 fighter jets and Raptor patrol boats.

A Russian Su-30 fighter jet in the lens of a remotely controlled machine gun module. Photo: SSU

It should be noted that as early as December 6, 2024, Russian propagandists and information resources reported an attempt by the Defense Forces to attack the Crimean bridge with naval drones. The propagandists also stated that after a short battle, the drones had turned around and successfully left the site of the special operation.

Russian aviation was unable to pursue them, so the helicopters and airplanes returned to the base. Earlier, Militarnyi reported that the Ukrainian Navy's maritime drones had hit the gas platforms seized by the invaders in the Black Sea. We should also note a new approach to the implementation of objective monitoring of the consequences, where several marine drones were used as carriers of air drones to record them.

The video shows two cases of drone takeoff: during the attack on the first platform, where it was used to record the attack, and during the attack on the third platform, where an FPV drone was raised to attack the Russian military.