Ukrainian air force lacks ammunition to reliably counter new Shahed drones
Read NV on Google
Ukrainian MiG-29 (Photo: Air Force Command of UA Armed Forces via Facebook)
Ukrainian jets are perfectly capable of shooting down jet-powered
Shahed drones but lack air-to-air missiles in sufficient quantities, MP and
parliamentary Defense Committee member Serhiy Rakhmanin told NV on Sept. 29.
“We have a number of different aircraft, ranging from Soviet
MiG-29s and Su-27s to aviation platforms provided by our partners,” Rakhmanin
said.
“They are outdated, but they can be highly effective against
these drones. The problem is not the aircraft; there are no missiles.”
“We are not talking about particularly complex or very
expensive missiles. We are talking about relatively inexpensive missiles when
compared with PAC-3s, for example. We are talking about AIM-9s. We have been
asking for them for a long time,” he added.
Rakhmanin said Ukraine’s partners have the missiles but have
declined to provide them.
“The explanations they offer vary; they include the need to
protect their own airspace and the need to use the missiles themselves,” he
said.
Ukraine previously had its own air-to-air missiles,
Rakhmanin said, but almost all of them have now been used.
“There are remnants of old Soviet missiles that are also
being adapted and integrated onto foreign aircraft platforms as well as
domestic, post-Soviet fighter jets, in an effort to use them to shoot down
drones,” he said.
“This requires time, but work is underway, and it did not
begin yesterday. It cannot be done in a day or two.”
On Sept. 28, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said
Ukraine’s air defense forces shoot down about 70% of drones during large-scale
Russian attacks. The interception rate for jet-powered drones is 57%, he said.
The military war may be swinging in our favor, but the information war continues.
Just as an army needs soldiers, so does a free society need its journalists to ensure that people have access to honest, trustworthy voices to understand the world around them.
For the past five years, The New Voice of Ukraine has been working tirelessly to push back against Russian narratives and defend democracy. But we cannot do it alone.
Please consider supporting us on Patreon for just $5 a month – your donation does directly to supporting journalists and ensuring that this front of the infowar says solid and defended.
Thank you.
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google News
