Ukrainian air defense is endangered by autumn weather, as rain and clouds mask Russian Shahed-type drones, reports Kyiv Independent.
President Volodymyr Zelensky recently stated, after an attack by Russia, that the effectiveness of Ukraine’s air defense has decreased by “20-30%”, due to the cloudy sky, according to Reuters.
As a result, more and more Russian drones are managing to bypass defense – hitting Ukrainian cities and killing or injuring civilians.
Soldiers from Ukrainian mobile air groups confirm that bad weather poses a challenge. Many units use rudimentary anti-aircraft technology, such as Browning machine guns mounted on pickup trucks, and rely on favorable conditions to efficiently identify targets.
“A scope in rain and snow can only reach up to 100-200 meters,” says Oleksi, the coordinator of the mobile air defense groups in the Kiev region. Normally, visibility is about 2,000 meters. “For this reason (weather) can have a substantial impact on the situation.”
How Ukraine defends against Russian drones
Ground-to-air systems like the Soviet S-300 and the German self-propelled howitzer Gepard, are widely used for air defense, but Ukraine is forced to conserve their limited stockpile of ammunition, which is dwindling. This is especially true for the Patriot batteries, supplied by the US, which are produced in small quantities.
Other local, less known solutions, include a new generation of interceptor drones. One of the most important of these is “Sting”, an FPV drone specially designed to hunt and neutralize Shahed drones.
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