Ukraine's Boldest MOVE of the Entire WAR

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Become a Member Today and Unlock EXCLUSIVE Videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKfak8fBm_Lhy4eX9UKxEpA/join  Ukraine has achieved two historic world-first military milestones: the first USV-on-USV naval battle using a Sargan 3000 armed with a Kongsberg 12.7mm RWS, and the first destruction of a $16M Russian Ka-52 attack helicopter using a General Chereshnya OPTIX fiber-optic FPV drone. Discover how jam-immune fiber-optic tethers and modular uncrewed gunboats are rewriting the rules of naval surface combat and frontline air defense.  ⏱️ CHAPTERS: 00:00 - First USV-on-USV Kill: Sargan 3000 Destroys Russian Drone Boat 01:30 - Sargan 3000 Technical Specs and Kongsberg "Protector" Integration 03:32 - Evolution to Modular Platform: Delta EW Integration and Novorossiysk Strikes 05:12 - World-First Aerial Kill: Fiber-Optic FPV Downs Russian Ka-52 Alligator 08:22 - Pokrovsk Battlefield Footage & Analyzing the Pilot Escape Attempt 10:14 - Tactically Forcing Collisions: Overcoming Fiber-Optic Range Constraints 12:12 - Chereshnya OPTIX Stealth: Bypassing Russian Electromagnetic Sensors 14:22 - Escalating Unmanned Warfare: Russian USV Procurement vs. Ukrainian Innovation  Support us directly as we bring you independent, up-to-date reporting on military news and global conflicts by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMilitaryShow/join  #militarystrategy #militarydevelopments #militaryanalysis #themilitaryshow  SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/BdXxFYYZ

Transcript

00:01The war in Ukraine has been a conflict of world firsts. Ukraine's ingenuity both

00:06tactically and in terms of weapons development has enabled it to score the

00:10types of kills that seem like they're pulled out of a movie, but they are

00:13reality. Ukraine's drones are doing things that nobody ever saw coming and

00:18they've done it again. Twice. Nothing like this has ever happened before as

00:23Ukraine has scored two historic world first kills that have transformed how

00:27it will approach the war forever. We first head to the Black Sea and a

00:31telegram post published by the Ukrainian Navy. The naval forces in

00:36coordination with the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, GUR, conducted a

00:40successful operation in the Black Sea and destroyed a Russian uncrewed

00:44surface vessel. The target was detected by GUR units. The Ukrainian Navy's

00:48Sargan 3000 uncrewed surface vessel, equipped with a 12.7 millimeter

00:53Protector RWS, remote weapons station, successfully destroyed it, the Navy said.

00:58A video lasting about 80 seconds accompanied the post and it shows the

01:03view from Ukraine's maritime drone as it fires on Russia's sea drone over and

01:07over. Eventually, the damage done is too much. Russia's drones end up being torn to

01:12pieces, left dead in the water by a brutal display of firepower. What we've just seen

01:17in that footage is the first time that uncrewed surface vessel or USV has been

01:22used to sink another USV. The Protector turned destroyer, leaving Russia's drone

01:28boat sinking stern first below the waves. Before we go deeper, are you enjoying our

01:33reporting? Subscribe and share your thoughts below and if you'd like to

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01:41Ukraine needed a special kind of USV to get this particular job done and the

01:46Sargan 3000 perfectly fit the bill. First unveiled by Ukraine's President

01:51Volodymyr Zelensky in April, the Sargan 3000 is a multi-purpose platform that had

01:56already been tested and entered full service by the time Zelensky revealed it.

02:01Army Inform's report at the time noted that the USV was extremely maneuverable

02:06and able to perform strike missions. In September, we got all of the proof that

02:10we would ever need that this was the case. The specs tell more of the story.

02:14The Sargan 3000 has an operational range of 1,600 kilometers, meaning it's more than capable

02:20of covering practically all of the Black Sea and even parts of the Sea of Azov.

02:25It's fast too, able to reach a top speed of up to 55 knots. The drone can be equipped with

02:31a

02:31payload weighing up to 450 kilograms, which is ideal for when Ukraine needs it to carry out kamikaze

02:36strikes against larger surface vessels. But that's not what we saw on September 12th.

02:41That footage showed us that the adaptable Sargan 3000 can also be loaded with remotely controlled

02:47weapons that are capable of shredding through much smaller targets, without Ukraine having

02:51to waste one of its USVs in a kamikaze strike. In this, we see the evolution of the Sargan 3000.

02:58What was once designed to be a kamikaze weapon has become something much more. The drone is now

03:03capable of connecting to Ukraine's Delta Situational Awareness System, allowing it to feed

03:09real-time footage back into the system. It also features multi-channel control capabilities,

03:15including redundant satellite communication terminals that make it extremely difficult to jam

03:19using electronic warfare. Throw an optical navigation system and an autonomous inertial

03:25navigation system into the mix, and you get a USV that is loaded with electronic warfare

03:30countermeasures. Ukraine has developed several versions of the Sargan 3000. Beyond the kamikaze and

03:36machine gun loaded versions of the drone, there are variants that can carry rockets,

03:40electronic warfare equipment, and even serve as a mothership for FPV drones. The drone also highlights

03:46how well Ukraine is cooperating with its allies. The protector gun that was used to score this world

03:51first kill is made by Kongsberg, which is a Norwegian defense company. The Sargan 3000 hasn't been operating for

03:59long. Its first publicly revealed combat engagement was in July, when Ukraine's navy used a Sargan 3000 to

04:06launch an attack on an FSB border guard ship named the Izumrud, which was stationed at the Black Sea

04:11fleet's base in Novorossiysk. This was a revenge strike. The Izumrud was involved in a November 2018

04:18attack against Ukrainian ships in the Kerch Strait. It took Ukraine eight years, but it finally retaliated

04:25using its remarkable USV, leaving behind a damaged ship with dead and wounded on board.

04:31Ukraine didn't confirm if it used the Sargan 3000 as a kamikaze weapon or as a platform for other

04:36weapons to launch its attack, but it doesn't matter. The outcome is that a Russian ship went down.

04:41And now, just a few months later, Ukraine is pulling off world firsts by taking out a Russian

04:46USV with a maritime drone of its own. This brilliant Black Sea strike was preceded by Ukraine pulling off

04:52another world first just a few months before the downing of a Russian Ka-52 helicopter back in March.

04:58Now, that alone isn't a world first. According to Global Military, Russia had lost 42 of its Ka-52s

05:05in Ukraine by September 1st, so it's not as though Ukraine has no experience in dealing with this type

05:10of chopper. And indeed, when you listen to the initial reports, this particular kill would have

05:15seemed like just another day at the office for Ukraine. Drone operators from Ukraine's Kizaki Vsot unit,

05:21which is part of the 1st Battalion of the 59th Brigade, destroyed a Ka-52 attack chopper,

05:26marking the second time that unit had taken out a helicopter with a drone. Impressive, yes,

05:31but where's the world first? The footage tells the full story. The kill scored on the Ka-52 may have

05:37amounted to the second time this unit destroyed a Russian helicopter, but it's the very first time

05:42this or any other unit has managed to take out a Ka-52 using a fiber-optic FPV drone. It's

05:48never

05:49been done before. Not one of the 42 other Ka-52s that Russia has lost was destroyed with this type

05:54of drone, and we can see the basics of how the unit pulled this attack off in first person.

06:00The drone shot all of the footage we need to see as it launched its attack. In a 15-second

06:05video,

06:05we see an attempt to hit a Ka-52 that fails, as the helicopter is just out of reach of

06:10the drone,

06:10which is tethered by its fiber-optic cable. What seems like a failed mission transforms in a heartbeat,

06:16as a second Ka-52 approaches the drone. This chopper is in range and the drone operator shifts their

06:22device just slightly to the right. The Russian pilot never saw it coming. The last shot we see

06:28is of the Ka-52 colliding with the fiber-optic drone. Perhaps that's not enough evidence for you

06:33that Ukraine pulled off something special here. The Ka-52 could have brushed past the drone or escaped

06:38relatively unscathed. The first-person footage doesn't even descend into static, as is usually the case for

06:44these types of strikes, marking the moment the drone explodes. But there is more evidence. Published

06:49by Xelenova Plus, a follow-up video shot by a reconnaissance drone sent to the scene, showcases the

06:55aftermath. We see the smoking wreckage of the Russian chopper, providing all of the evidence

07:00that the Kremlin needs to see. Ukraine just pulled off the seemingly impossible. It killed one of Russia's

07:05primary attack helicopters using a drone attached to a fiber-optic cable. More information has made the

07:11rounds since the footage of the kill was shared online. We now know, thanks to Defense Express,

07:17that the world-first strike occurred somewhere in the region surrounding the village of Nadezhdjenka,

07:21which is in the Pokrovsk direction of the Donetsk Oblast. What's interesting about this site is that

07:26it was over five kilometers away from the front lines at the time of the attack. That doesn't

07:30necessarily mean that Ukraine's drone operators were working inside enemy territory. Rather, it suggests

07:35that the Russian chopper was hit closer to the front, likely as it attempted to return to occupied

07:40territory, and its plummeting flight path took it a few kilometers away from the location of the strike

07:45before it crash-landed near Nadezhdjenka. What all of this means is that Ukraine just

07:51destroyed a $16 million helicopter using an FPV drone that cost a minute fraction of that amount.

07:57And it's not just the chopper that was killed. Photographs are doing the rounds on social media

08:01showing that the pilot and the navigator of the Ka-52 were also killed in the strike. That's more value

08:07lost for Russia. Two experienced pilots have gone down with their helicopter, meaning the Kremlin

08:13now has several gaps to fill in the Pokrovsk region. Those pilots didn't die alongside their

08:18helicopter. According to Defense Express, they were able to escape the flaming wreckage of the chopper,

08:23and they ran for several hundred meters, but they had no chance. Ukrainian FPV drones were on them

08:28almost from the moment they crawled out of their Ka-52, and those drones finished off the pilots,

08:33as they attempted to hide in a small trench. Everybody in the Kremlin will be asking themselves

08:38the same question after seeing all of this footage. How? We reveal more in a moment. First,

08:45this is a reminder that you're watching the military show. If you haven't subscribed and

08:48enabled notifications yet, now's the perfect time to do both and then dive right back into the video.

08:54How is the perfect question to ask about this strike? If there is a single type of drone in

08:59Ukraine's arsenal that isn't suited for taking out an attack helicopter, it's a fiber-optic FPV drone.

09:05Not because these drones don't have the power needed. It doesn't take a huge amount of explosive

09:09to destroy a chopper in flight, especially if you target the rotors. It's all about range.

09:14Fiber-optic drones are naturally limited in the amount of ground they can cover because they're

09:18tethered to their operator. We saw that in the footage of Ukraine's world first strike. The first of

09:23the two Ka-52s managed to avoid destruction simply because Ukraine's drone did not have quite the

09:28range to reach it. Even so, it's not like Ukraine's drone operators have fiber-optic FPV drones loitering

09:34in the skies, waiting for their chance to take down an attack helicopter. There was something more to

09:39this strike. It had to have been planned. As it turns out, there was a lot of planning involved in

09:44the strike. Over a month of it, in fact, as revealed by the commander of the 1st Battalion of the

09:4959th Brigade,

09:50Major Maxim Boharchuk. Speaking to Army Inform, in the wake of the strike being made public, he said,

09:55We monitored the work of enemy aircraft every day, followed their routes, where they enter,

10:00where they exit, where they launch, and generally the tactics of their actions.

10:04There was a lot more to it than that, however. Ukraine's drone operators had to compensate for

10:08the fact that the drones they were using couldn't compare to a Ka-52 in terms of raw speed.

10:13To score a kill like this, a fiber-optic drone has to be flown into the path of a chopper,

10:18forcing the collision rather than chasing the chopper down and taking it out.

10:22There must be both the skill of the pilot and the skill of those who guide and orient the pilot,

10:26where the helicopters are at a given time, and a certain luck factor, the Major said.

10:31Luck may have played a part, but skill, especially in the adaptation required to strike the second

10:36chopper after the first miss, was even more important. As vital was the type of drone that was

10:41used. You know it was a fiber-optic FPV drone. The specifics are that it was a system named General

10:46Cheroshnaya Optics, which was officially codified in December 2025. Available in 10, 13, and 15-inch

10:53frames, these drones come with fiber-optic spools ranging from 15 to 35 kilometers in range.

10:59Those lengths show us that it's possible that Ukraine was flying its drones behind enemy lines,

11:04with its operators tucked back several kilometers behind the lines. Still, the target wasn't easy to

11:09strike. Ka-52s are loaded with sensors that help them to see incoming projectiles. We've seen that much

11:16earlier in the war, when Ukraine was trying to use S-300 anti-air missiles to destroy these choppers.

11:21Though Ukraine eventually succeeded, the Ka-52 was a hard target, because it could be set into a hover

11:26mode, essentially bringing it to a stop. For an S-300, that usually leads to a miss. The system's

11:32missiles are designed to hit moving targets, and they'll fly right past a chopper that is simply

11:37hovering. In the case of an incoming drone, a Ka-52 should be able to detect the incoming projectile and

11:43shoot it out of the sky, or at least avoid it. But it didn't. Why? This is where the genius

11:49of

11:49using a fiber-optic drone for this world-first attack comes into play. Fiber-optic drones don't

11:54emit anything across the electromagnetic spectrum. They don't need to. They're directly connected to

12:00their operators, so no additional signals are needed. You might be able to see where we're going with this.

12:05The Russian Ka-52 pilots were completely oblivious to the drone that took them out,

12:09because their chopper systems didn't pick anything up. By the time that Ukraine's drones flew into

12:13view, it was already too late. The strike was inevitable. Ukraine's tracking of Ka-52's flight

12:20path set the stage for a first-of-its-kind attack. What we see in these two strikes is the

12:25emergence

12:26of a pattern. Ukraine's drones have become crucial to its strategy for dealing with Russia,

12:31that much is obvious and has been for years. However, the truly war-changing aspects of both

12:36these successes are that they show us how Ukraine constantly adapts, finding new ways to use tools

12:42that were never designed to do what Ukraine uses them to do. A fiber-optic drone isn't meant to take

12:47out an attack helicopter. These drones are meant to be used on the front, where they populate kill

12:52zones and are used to conduct strikes against troop gatherings and vehicles, stifling assaults in the

12:56process. But Ukraine found another use. Knowing that Ka-52s can detect other types of drones,

13:02weapons, thus giving the chopper a chance to avoid those projectiles, Ukraine took a frontline weapon

13:07and transformed it into an undetectable chopper killer. In the case of the Sargan 3000 attack,

13:14we've seen the evolution in just a matter of months. What was once a Kamikaze USV has been

13:19transformed into a modular platform that is capable of taking on all sorts of threats at sea using

13:24different means. Now Russia's USVs have become targets. That's important for Ukraine. It's used a

13:30combination of USVs, missiles and aerial drones to negate the supposed naval advantage Russia had

13:36with its Black Sea fleet. Maintaining that advantage is the job now, and Russia is doing

13:41everything it can to reassert itself in the Black Sea. On August 26, Pravda reported that Russia's navy

13:47is expected to receive 150 USVs in 2026, but that number could climb as high as 230 based on a

13:54Kremlin

13:55procurement order. Russia is trying to play catch up in the maritime drone arena. Ukraine just showed

14:00the Kremlin that it has a long way to go. Russia is deploying technology that Ukraine has had for

14:05years, and with the Sargan 3000, Ukraine has leveled up its USV game to the point where we're likely to

14:11see USV battles across the Black Sea become a regular part of the war, especially as Russia deploys more of

14:17its maritime drones. The stage has been set for the Black Sea to ignite into a new kind of battleground.

14:24As for Ukraine, it's just doing what it's been doing since the beginning of the conflict,

14:28executing moves that nobody ever saw coming. We've covered two of Ukraine's most recent

14:33world firsts in this video. There are many others. Heading all the way back to January 2025,

14:38Ukraine managed to take out a Russian Mi-8 helicopter using a Megura V-5 USV. That's the

14:43best of both worlds of the two stories we've shared. A chopper downed by a maritime drone,

14:48or more specifically, an Mi-8 taken out by an R-73 Sea Dragon missile fired by a Megura V

14:54-5,

14:55as reported by Jaynes at the time. More recently, we have seen Ukraine carry out a string of world

15:01firsts with its long-range drones, including an attack against Siberia's Omsk refinery in July that

15:07broke all records for a long-range drone strike. That record didn't stand for long. In September,

15:13Ukraine struck in Siberia again, this time pulling off its first attack against the Novi-Urungoy gas

15:19condensate treatment plant in a strike that saw its drones travel around 3,000 km. We've seen Ukraine

15:26shoot down an Su-25 fighter jet using a Javelin anti-tank weapon, showing how Ukraine brilliantly

15:32repurposes weapons to suit its needs. A weapon that costs around $80,000 for a single shot took out a

15:39Soviet-era fighter jet that set Russia back about $11 million. Ukraine has also destroyed K-27

15:46helicopters using FPV drones launched from USVs, as was the case in March, when Ukraine launched

15:52a strike against the Sivash drilling rig in the Black Sea, where it took out a K-27 as it

15:58attempted

15:59to land. Over and over, we see the same pattern. Ukraine doing things that have never been done

16:04before. What we have here is a chronicle of how Ukraine has rewritten the rules of war,

16:09using drones and other weapons to transform how battles are fought on the ground, in the air,

16:14and at sea. Russia built a military designed to steamroll over opposition that fights the way

16:20that Russia expects it to fight. Ukraine took a different path. These incidents showcase how

16:25Ukraine has constantly overcome Russia by inventing new ways to destroy whatever Russia sends into its

16:31territory. There's only one question left to ask, when will the next world first happen? If we know

16:37Ukraine, it'll arrive sooner rather than later. Are you looking for more examples of Ukraine's brilliance?

16:42Then how about what it's done with Cold War-era M113 armored personnel carriers? Those vehicles have

16:49been transformed into robotic breaches capable of clearing out mines. And you can find out much more

16:54by watching our video. But before you go, if you enjoyed the video, consider subscribing and let us

16:59know your thoughts below. You can also become a channel member for access to exclusive content that

17:04we don't publish publicly. And thank you, as always, for watching.

17:07We'll see you next time.

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