All it took was six sea drones, powered by jet skis, to fell a Russian guided missile ship last week, according to a rare interview with the secretive Ukrainian unit behind the attack, told CNN in an interview.
In total, they used ten MAGURA drones were used in the attack, six of which hit and ultimately sunk the Russian warship. According to the drone operator with the call sign "13", these devices are only a few meters long and powered by jet skis.
The drones have a long range of about 800 kilometres. The impact of the drones is impressive but it’s delicate work, said the pilot.
"The main thing is to feel the drone. If you squeeze it a little, you can lose control of the drone" he said.
A pilot is constantly monitoring the drone’s passage, he said, with the final run into the targets often controlled manually.
The drone’s 250kg payload can be increased to 300kg, he added. Even against some of the toughest ships of Moscow’s Black Sea fleet, the drones have proved their effectiveness.
"They are quite difficult to see, especially in the open sea. This size makes it difficult to control it because the sea is choppy but it also makes it much harder for the enemy to hit us,” he said.
The development of the Magura 5 was known before. It is manufactured by the state enterprise SpetsTechnoExport, and the invention was presented at the International Defence Industry Fair (IDEF 2023), Militarnyy wrote.