Ukraine is overhauling its air-defense tactics against Russian unmanned aircraft, Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said, announcing plans to create units that will destroy drones with purpose-built interceptors.
“Special units will be established to eliminate Russian drones with interceptor drones,” Ihnat said.
Ukrainian officer Maksim Proskurow told state broadcaster Polish Radio that Moscow sent about 4,000 drones towards Ukraine in June alone.
At present, the job of neutralizing them falls mainly to mobile groups of trained civilians armed with machine-guns, Proskurow said.
“These trained civilians patrol Ukraine’s airspace in small teams and shoot down hostile drones,” he explained.
The tactic is becoming less effective because Russian drones now fly higher than 2 kilometers, making them hard to see and out of rifle range.
To avoid firing missiles that cost more than US$1 million each, Ukraine will equip its forces and the mobile groups with interceptor drones priced at about US$5,000 apiece, Ukrainian media said.
(jh)
Source: IAR