Ukraine Disabled Russian Maritime Patrol Aircraft Before Submarine Strike
In advance of the drone sub strike on the Russian Navy submarine pen on the Black Sea, Ukraine's SBU security service paved the way by damaging the only Russian antisubmarine patrol aircraft in the area, the agency claims.
On December 15, the SBU released video showing a strike on a Kilo-class attack submarine at a pier in Novorossiysk, the protected port where the Russian Navy has relocated almost all of its combatant vessels in the Black Sea. The agency claimed that the strike was carried out by a drone submarine - a "Sub Sea Baby" - and that the Kilo-class sub suffered "critical damage." Satellite imaging from before and after the attack suggests that the drone struck the pier wall next to the target, leaving a crater. The Russian Navy claimed after the fact that the Kilo-class - the Varshavyanka - was undamaged and still operational.
To get to the target, Ukrainian forces needed to get a drone sub through to Novorossiysk without interception, requiring a crossing of some 400 nautical miles without detection. To prevent interception, the SBU planned and staged a preparatory operation behind the lines, targeting the only Russian asset that had a good chance of spotting the drone sub coming.
According to the spy agency, a Ukrainian aerial drone asset was delivered (by undisclosed means) within range of the airfield at Yeysk. The base is home to the only Russian Il-38N antisubmarine patrol aircraft in the Black Sea. This Soviet-era aircraft class has been upgraded with modern tracking systems for following targets above and below the surface, and SBU said that it was a known threat to Ukraine's drone boats and unmanned submersibles.
The agency said that it used an aerial drone to deliver an airburst warhead over the top of the Il-38N, damaging engines, sensors and radars with a shaped charge. SBU noted that the attack shows the continued vulnerability of Russian airfields to drone incursions, despite previous high-profile strikes.
"The disabling of this anti-submarine aircraft ensured the successful execution of the main part of the special operation - the explosion of the Varshavyanka class submarine," SBU claimed.
Russia's ministry of defense has not confirmed the details of the Yeysk airfield strike. If the Il-38N does require time to repair, it may well be replaceable with another airframe of the same class; Russian Naval Aviation is believed to have had an inventory of about 30 examples of the type before the start of the full-scale invasion.