The Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to make military history. Ukrainian defenders destroyed a russian Ka-27 helicopter using an FPV drone launched from a naval drone, a tactic that has not previously been documented in combat.
The Ukrainian Navy released a video of the operation. It first shows a naval kamikaze drone striking the support structures of the Sivash offshore drilling platform in the Black Sea. russian forces have attempted to use the platform as a site for electronic warfare, air defense, and communications systems.
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The footage then shows the strike on the Ka-27 helicopter with an FPV drone while the aircraft was attempting to land.
Notably, the drone used in the attack was most likely a fixed-wing type. It moves at speeds exceeding 115 km/h, and its pitch maneuvers are very sharp, which is not typical for quadcopter-type drones.
As a result of the strike, the helicopter was destroyed and completely burned out. The fate of its crew remains unknown. The attack also effectively blocked the landing site, making it significantly more difficult for Russian forces to use helicopters to access the platform.
The launch point of the drone that destroyed the Ka-27 is not shown in the video. In theory, it could have been launched earlier from shore and flown approximately 100 km to the platform, arriving in the target area about an hour after launch.
However, it is far more likely that the drone was launched from a naval drone, which also acted as a communications relay and recorded the strike.
Ukrainian naval drones had previously been observed carrying FPV drones. As early as December 2024, the Ukrainian Navy demonstrated strikes against offshore platforms using drones launched from unmanned maritime platforms, although those systems used quadcopter-type FPV drones.
This capability is developing rapidly. By September 2025, Ukrainian naval drones were already observed carrying fiber-optic FPV drones.
Ukrainian companies have also presented concepts of naval drones serving as carriers for fixed-wing UAVs. One example is the configuration demonstrated by MAC HUB for its Katran X1 naval drone, designed to carry Osa FPV drones.
According to the stated specifications, the Osa drone has a cruising speed of 90 km/h, a maximum speed of 175 km/h, and a flight range of up to 70 km. Communication is maintained through Starlink installed on the launch platform with the use of a relay.
At the same time, the specific model of the naval drone that delivered the FPV drone in this strike remains unknown.
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