Weaponized Russian Jet-Powered Target Drone Shot Down Over Black Sea: Ukraine

Yahoo

31-05-2025

Ukraine's Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR) says its air defense unit shot down a Russian jet drone headed to the Black Sea port city of Odesa. A spokesman for GUR told us that it was a Dan-M, a target drone the Russians have converted into a cruise missile-like capability. A Ukrainian military publication, however, suggested it could have been an Iranian-designed jet drone.
In a post on Telegram Friday, GUR released a 34-second video claiming to show the interception. It opens with the launch of a missile and then cuts to a different view, showing something exploding upon hitting the water. It does not show the intercept itself.
Shot Down Over the Black Sea: russia's Newest Jet-Powered Drone Destroyed by DIU-Developed Missile System pic.twitter.com/28oOS3xDk7
— Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (@DI_Ukraine) May 30, 2025
The drone was downed by 'a mobile anti-aircraft missile system equipped with R-73 missiles, developed by specialists of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine with the support of foreign partners,' GUR stated. This is a ground-based system, GUR spokesman Andrii Yusov told us. In addition to equipping its Su-27 and MiG-29 fighter fleets, Ukraine has used the Soviet-era heat-seeking R-73 air-to-air missiles on a range of platforms, including two types of so-called 'FrankenSAM' surface-to-air missile systems and drone boats.
Claims of the intercept come a day after Ukrainian electronic warfare expert Serhii 'Flash' Beskrestnov first stated that Russia had fired three Dan-M jet drones at Odesa from Crimea.
'Dan-M is a jet target for training and testing air defense, which the Russian Federation converted into an attack UAV,' Beskrestnov stated on Telegram Thursday.
Beskrestnov said that the Dan-M has a maximum altitude of about 5.5 miles, a flight time of between 25 and 40 minutes and can travel between 400kph (about 250mph) and 750kph (about 466mph).
This morning, Russia attacked with a new type of attack jet UAV "Dan-M". They were launched by a group from Crimea, – "Flash""Dan-M" is a jet target for training and testing air defense, which the Russian Armed Forces converted into an attack UAV. In the original, the target… pic.twitter.com/uW73X5BF7L
— MAKS 25
(@Maks_NAFO_FELLA) May 29, 2025
'Provided the warhead was installed where the parachute used to be, it should weigh several dozen kilograms,' according to the Ukrainian Defense Express news outlet. 'All in all, it gives Russian forces a weapon to strike targets based on known coordinates at ranges 300 (about 186 miles) to 400 km (about 250 miles).'
The Russians introduced an improved Dan-M variant in 2020, the publication stated. The drone 'received a partial update of the onboard electronics and a new small-sized MGTD-125E turbojet engine with a 125 kgf output to replace the MD-120 with its 120 kgf,' the publication stated. 'The Russians claimed the new engine's production process involved additive manufacturing (3D printing) to make parts of the combustion chamber and nozzle.'
In his Telegram message, Beskrestnov said it was unclear why the Russians took the time to convert the target drone into a weapon '[u]nless they have a large number of these UAVs.'
He also noted that at the beginning of the war, Ukraine used converted jet reconnaissance drones 'because we did not have cruise missiles and long-range attack UAVs.'
As we reported previously, those were Ukrainian Soviet-era Tu-141 and Tu-143 reconnaissance drones fitted with warheads to strike Russian targets (and in one case, accidentally strayed into airspace over the Croatian capital, Zagreb).
It is possible that the jet drones were being used to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses, a retired Russian Navy officer who uses the @Capt_Navy X handle told The War Zone.
'We are actively looking for new reserves and new approaches to combat missions,' he said. 'A number of implementations (I'm not talking about Dan-M) that I see suggest that this project has also entered the working stage.'
'We have no problems with ammunition supplies,' he added. 'At a minimum, this can saturate the enemy's air defense system.'
Russia has been pummeling Ukraine with long-range drones as well as cruise and ballistic missiles.
While neither GUR nor Beskrestnov said how the Dan-M was launched, Capt_N shared a video published on YouTube in 2020 showing a modified version of the drone being fired from helicopters as well as a ground-based launcher.
In addition to weaponizing target and reconnaissance jet drones, Russia has purpose-built options, as well. In January 2024, evidence emerged that Russia was using jet-powered Iranian-made Shahed-238 drones. Ukraine has also adapted target drones from the UK and from its own industry for similar purposes.
By way of comparison, we previously pointed out that 'target drones by their very nature have latent capabilities that can be employed in support of combat missions. The U.S. military notably demonstrated this with its employment of BQM-34 Firebee target drones to disperse chaff along various corridors to help clear routes for crewed combat aircraft in the opening phases of the invasion of Iraq in 2003. In Vietnam, similar drones even carried out air-to-ground combat roles.'
Today, in the U.S., we are seeing target drone designs being adapted to work as collaborative combat aircraft in the 'loyal wingman' role, providing for a compelling low-cost, low-risk, high-capability proposition.
Defense Express questioned why Russia would convert a Dan-M into a weapon, suggesting there is a limited supply of these drones.
'The very fact that Russians went out of their way to modify the Dan-M for this role is strange, especially considering that nothing is about this drone being mass-produced,' Defense Express posited. 'The stocks of these UAVs should be too low to make the investment worth it.'
The publication offered an alternative suggestion.
'In terms of its size and geometric outlines, the Russian Dan is very similar to the Karrar, a mass-produced weapon from Iran,' Defense Express noted. As you can see from images we previously published, the Karrar, an Iranian interceptor drone, does bear a striking resemblance to the Dan-M.
In his Telegram message, Beskrestnov declined to say what happened to the jet drones after they were launched. He also declined in response to a query from us. The recovery of fragments from a downed drone, of course, would provide better evidence of its type.
Regardless, it does make sense that Russia would adapt target drones with jet performance and relevant range to play a role in the conflict. These systems are built to be disposable — shot down in air defense exercises and test events — and can usually be produced with some scale economically. So using them as improvised cruise missiles or as high-performance decoys that will help more expensive cruise missiles reach their targets is certainly logical.
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