Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported that a drone strike hit an Il-38N naval anti-submarine aircraft at Yeysk airfield in southern Russia.
According to a statement published by the SBU press service on its official Telegram channel, the action took place even before the explosion of the Varshavyanka-class submarine in Novorossiysk.
According to the message, the aircraft was deployed at the airport, where the 859th center of combat use and retraining of flight personnel of the Russian Navy’s naval aviation operates. A drone equipped with an air-detonated warhead containing approximately two thousand directed destruction elements directed downwards was used to destroy the machine.
+ Click here to watch the video
“The device exploded directly above the area where the main instruments and radars of the aircraft are located and also caused damage to the engine,” the SBU said. According to the Ukrainian authorities, the operation was planned and carried out by members of the 13th Main Directorate of the Department of Military Counterintelligence of the Security Service of Ukraine.
The Il-38N is intended for maritime reconnaissance missions, submarine search and tracking, sea area control, minefield laying and torpedo attacks. According to the SBU, the downed aircraft played an active role in the fight against naval drones deployed by Ukraine in the Black Sea.
It is an upgraded version of the original Il-38, featuring the integration of the advanced Novella patrol and tracking system. The first flight of the modernized aircraft, then still with a model of the search and navigation complex, took place in the spring of 2001. In the fall of 2022, full-scale state tests of this system began.
The first test aircraft was assigned to the Northern Fleet in late 2011, with the official handover taking place in March 2012. The serial upgrade of the Il-38 to the Il-38N standard, also known by the code name “Romance”, began in 2013 and was carried out by the Myasischev design office in Zhukovsky, near Moscow.
The exact differences between the Novella system and its basic export version known as the “Sea Serpent” remain secret. Information released by Russian sources states that this complex is capable of detecting surface and subsurface targets, and even targets under the ice, at a distance of up to 320 kilometers, and is also equipped with a specialized electronic intelligence unit.
Currently, some of the Il-38s still in service with the Russian Naval Air Force use the Berkut navigation and targeting system, originally developed in the 1960s, making the Il-38N one of the most advanced platforms of its type available to the Russian Navy.
+ Trump Class: The US is planning the USS Defiant, the largest surface combatant ship since World War II
Source and images: Telegram @SBUkr. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
