Drone-on-drone warfare: Ukraine adapts its air defence strategy against Russian attacks
It was on the last day of July that Russia targeted this neighborhood with its Iranian designed Shahhead drones. Eight aheads flew in that night. One flew of that way, one hit the streets and six targeted the bread factory. Overall, July saw nearly 4,000 of the kamicazi aircraft launched at Ukraine. According to President Silinski, this is what’s been terrorizing us every night. The Shahed parts on display in this NGO’s car park are there to promote a campaign it calls drone fall. The idea is to buy special interceptor drones that can down Russian ones. We’ve spent the equivalent of about 12,000 and down nearly 4,000 drones, including about 60 Shahad. The interceptors were originally conceived mainly as a way to eliminate reconnaissance aircraft, smaller and more numerous than the Shaheds. These men have just sent one off to hunt a Russian spy drone. That one isn’t used against shaheds, but we’ve done dozens of them with other drones that are very effective, mainly because they are faster. They don’t catch the initial target, but their drone can now go after something else or come back. Unlike surfaceto-air missiles, which cost at least five times more than even the most expensive interceptor drones and are wasted if they fail. Interceptor drones are simply the only effective and affordable way of protecting Ukrainian cities. The state has now announced major programs to buy interceptor drones, but this prominent activist says they’ve done it far too late after ignoring the NGO’s appeals for months. Why not just give the enjoy? Those volunteers are already in touch with producers. They’ve got a whole system up and running to get the drones to the units that need them. Why not just give them the cash? There is no evidence of irregularities in the procurement of this particular type of drone. But after top officials were accused of buying other UAVs at inflated prices and pocketing the difference, suspicion is rife these days, both in the ranks of the military and on the battered streets.
This spring and early summer, Russia intensified its campaign of attacks on Ukrainian cities. In particular, the number of drones used increased exponentially – Russia has started mass production of variants of the Shahed drones originally provided by Iran. FRANCE 24 correspondent in Kyiv, Gulliver Cragg, reports on one of the tactics used to counter the drone attacks: drone-on-drone warfare in the skies.
#Ukraine #Russia #drones
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