Video: SBU strikes enemy Il-38N reconnaissance aircraft
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has released previously undisclosed details of the preparation for a special operation that targeted a Russian submarine in the port of Novorossiysk. One of the key stages of the operation was disabling an anti-submarine aircraft that could have interfered with its execution.
During preparations for the strike, officers of the 13th Main Directorate of the SBU’s Military Counterintelligence Department hit a modernized Il-38N (“Sea Dragon”) maritime reconnaissance aircraft at the Yeysk airbase.
This aircraft is designed for maritime reconnaissance, submarine detection, sea area surveillance, deployment of minefields, and torpedo strikes. According to the SBU, this particular aircraft had been actively countering the operation of the Service’s naval drones. Its estimated value is about $24 million.
In the Black Sea, Russia had only one aircraft of this class capable of detecting the “Sub Sea Baby” underwater drone while it was moving toward its target. Disabling the aircraft ensured the successful execution of the main phase of the special operation—the destruction of a Varshavyanka-class submarine.
To strike the Il-38N, the SBU used a modern drone equipped with an airburst warhead containing 2,000 downward-directed fragmentation elements. The detonation occurred directly above the compartment housing the aircraft’s main equipment and radar systems, and the engine was also damaged.
It is recalled that the Security Service of Ukraine successfully carried out a special operation in the port of Novorossiysk, striking a Russian submarine.
On the night of December 14, units of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out a series of precision strikes on military targets in temporarily occupied territories using FP-2 strike drones.
