Remember when Ukrainian sailors destroyed a Russian drone from their ship?

In September 2024, incredible combat footage showing a Ukrainian sailor shooting down a Russian Shahed-136 kamikaze drone with a machine gun was published online by the Ukrainian Navy.

The Russian drone was targeted and downed by a Ukrainian sailor using his vessel's onboard automatic machine gun in a stunning display of the sailor marksmanship.

The Ukrainian Navy’s press service released video footage of the incident on Telegram, which was captured in infrared and provided an interesting insight into a theater of the war that is often underreported. 

According to the Ukrainian military website Militarnyi, the video showed the targeting grid of a combat module mounted on the Ukrainian vessel. However, the make and model of the combat module were not disclosed. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @ ukrainian_navy

“It can be assumed that the enemy drone was shot down by a 30 or 25-mm automatic cannon,” Militarnyi reported before listing some of the known automatic machine guns that the Ukrainian Navy has installed on some of its boats.  

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By U.S. Navy Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jason Behnke, Public Domain

“Such weapons are installed on several boats of the Ukrainian Navy: the 25-mm Mk 38 Bushmaster on Island boats and the ZTM-1 30-mm gun on the Project 58155 Gyurza-M boats,” Militarnyi continued. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Армія Інформ, CC BY 4.0

Military added that in August 2023, the Ukrainian Navy signed a contract to arm its Island-class patrol vessels with weapon systems from the U.S. defense contractor SAFE Boats International. 

The combat footage of the incident only lasted for a few seconds and it showed the Ukrainian ship tracking the Russian Shahed-136 drone just firing off several rounds and destroying its target. 

The Russian Shahed-136 drone exploded in the sky and was captured by the video, so it is safe to assume that the drone was completely destroyed by the Ukrainian ship and its crew. 

The downing occurred over the skies of the Black Sea, which is a common route for Russian kamikaze drones and other unnamed aerial systems to take when attacking targets in Ukraine according to Militarnyi. 

“The routes of Russian drones often pass over the Black Sea, and their targets are usually civilian and port infrastructure in coastal areas,” Militarnyi reported. 

“Accordingly, the Ukrainian Navy responds promptly to threats and uses all available forces and weapons to repel the air threats over the Black Sea,” Militarnyi added. 

The destroyed Russian Shahed-136 isn’t the only high-profile Black Sea-related incident in recent days. On September 12th, Ukrainian intelligence reported that a special forces unit of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine shot down a Russian Su-30SM fighter jet.

Photo Credit: Telegram @DIUkraine

The Russian Su-30SM was reportedly downed by special forces using a man-portable air defense system. A video of the incident was also released but it is unclear from that footage if the jet was indeed hit and destroyed. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @DIUkraine

Militarnyi reported it was “noted that the Su-30SM fighter belonged to the 43rd Separate Naval Aviation Regiment of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which is based at the Saki air base in the temporarily occupied Crimea.”

“Approximately three hours after the downing of the enemy aircraft, the Russians launched a search and rescue operation involving an An-26 aircraft, as well as Mi-8 and Ka-27 helicopters.,” Militarnyi added. 

Newsweek reported that the Russian fighter jet had been flying a routine mission and had launched four Kh-31P anti-radiation missiles toward mainland Ukraine before they disappeared over the Black Sea on September 11th. 

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Photo Credit: Telegram @DIUkraine