SSU Strikes IL-38N Naval Aircraft Before Kilo-Class Submarine Attack in Novorossiysk

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) downed an IL-38N naval anti-submarine aircraft before bombing the Kilo-class submarine in Russia’s Novorossiysk.

The SSU press service reported this on its Telegram page.

The aircraft was attacked at the Yeysk airfield, where the 859th Center for Combat Use and Retraining of Naval Aviation Flight Personnel of the Russian Navy is based.

A drone with a surface-to-air missile warhead equipped with 2,000 warheads directed downward was used to destroy the aircraft.

“The explosion took place directly above the compartment with the main equipment and radars, and also damaged the engine,” the SSU said.

Preparations for the strike and the attack were carried out by officers of the 13th Main Directorate of the SSU Military Counterintelligence Department.

This aircraft is designed for maritime reconnaissance, submarine search, control of water areas, installation of minefields and torpedo strikes.

The affected board actively counteracted the work of SSU maritime drones.

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The Il-38N is a modernized version of the Il-38 anti-submarine aircraft, which features the installation of a new Novella patrol system.

The first flight of the modernized aircraft with a model of the navigation search and targeting system took place in the spring of 2001. In the fall of 2022, state tests of the system began.

The first test aircraft has been part of the Northern Fleet since the end of 2011, and the official handover took place in March 2012.

The serial modernization of the IL-38N for the Novella began in 2013 at the Myasishchev Design Bureau in Zhukovsky, Moscow Region.

The exact differences between the Novella and the export base model (the Sea Serpent) are classified. It is said to detect surface, underwater and even ice targets within a radius of 320 km. It also has a unique radio reconnaissance unit.

The Il-38 anti-submarine aircraft in service with the Russian Navy’s naval aviation are equipped with the Berkut targeting and navigation system developed in the 1960s.