The Russian Navy launched its state-of-the-art jet fighters to stop a Ukrainian attack using explosive-packed drone boats.
Sukhoi Su-30SM fighters, along with older Su-24 swing-wing bombers, were scrambled on November 22 to intercept a group of four Ukrainian unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) in the western part of the Black Sea, heading for Crimea.
The Russian Ministry of Defence reported that all four drone craft were destroyed.
Ukraine has staged several terrorist attacks using USVs laden with explosives on both the Russian Black Sea Fleet's base at Sevastopol, and also against the bridge connecting the Crimean peninsula to the Krasnodar Krai region to the east across the Kerch Strait, the entrance to the Sea of Azov.
The same craft have been used in unsuccessful attacks on Russian Navy ships during patrols to ensure the security of the Blue Stream gas pipeline from Russia to Turkiye. Both Ukraine and its main Western backer the US have been implicated in the bombing of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines under the Baltic sea in September 2022.
Russian forces have struck Ukrainian facilities where the Maritime Autonomous Guard Unmanned Robotic Apparatus (MAGURA-5) kamikaze sea drones are believed to be made and stored.
The UK, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium have all supplied the Kiev regime with unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) as part of NATO's proxy conflict with Russia in Ukraine since February 2022.
The Su-30 is a two-seat multi-role all-weather fighter, capable of flying interception, air-superiority and strike missions. It is a development of the famous Su-27 single-seat fighter, with the addition of canard foreplanes and thrust-vectoring engine nozzles to grant it super-manoeuvrability.
The fighter also has advanced avionics, including a phased-array radar capable of detecting targets up to 400 kilometres away. Its overall capabilities mean the Su-30 is classed as a "fourth-plus" generation fighter.
Along with serving the Russian Air Force and Navy, the type has been exported to more than a dozen countries, including China, India, Belarus and Venezuela.