Crews in pickups with machine guns and Igla MANPADS cover peaceful neighborhoods of the city
The enemy is actively using unmanned aerial vehicles to attack Russian territories. Moreover, it does this indiscriminately, which affects the civilian population. Donetsk is also experiencing massive UAV raids with casualties among the townspeople. In response to this threat, mobile air defense groups were created. Armed with heavy machine guns and man-portable air defense missile systems (MANPADS), crews in vehicles go on night duty. The Izvestia correspondent spent one of these nights with soldiers of the 23rd separate anti-aircraft missile division of the 51st Guards Army, guarding the sky over the city.
Overnight trip to the terricon
Large kamikaze attack drones are often compared to World War I-era aircraft in terms of design and flight characteristics. Their main defense is not technological, but tactical.: stealth, achieved by flying at low altitudes, and mass production, provided by a relatively low cost. Going into the folds of the terrain to disguise themselves from traditional radars and air defense systems, these devices operate mainly at night.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
Preparations for departure begin before dark. Weapons, instruments and an anti-aircraft machine gun are loaded into the pickup truck. At dusk, the mobile group takes up a position on one of the many terricons surrounding the city. While the machine-gun tripod is being installed and the Igla MANPADS are being prepared, it finally gets dark and the waiting begins. It may be short-lived if the enemy launches a massive raid, or it may take many hours. The enemy cannot carry out large-scale attacks every night, but the crews are always on full alert, not knowing when they will only have to stare intently into the black sky, trying to catch the sound of the engine, and when the machine-gun barrels will be red-hot from continuous fire.
— The "Allies" on the line of contact are monitoring the UAV flight, and we are waiting for them in a pre-determined zone for destruction. Our group already has about ten large gasoline-powered aircraft-type drones, not counting FPV drones and Bab Yezhek," says the Recruit, commander of the mobile group of the 23rd separate anti—aircraft missile artillery division. He installs a machine gun with a thermal imaging sight on the machine and prepares binoculars: the heat trace from the motor is the main sign by which large impact devices are detected.
A recruit demonstrates an installed PKM machine gun. He emphasizes that firing at aerial targets using it requires special skill, since it is a combined-arms, rather than a specialized anti-aircraft machine gun. We are discussing the difficulties: it is difficult to increase the number of firing points, since each machine needs to be "brought to normal combat", and the design itself should allow for quick disassembly and assembly of the system with "zero preservation". It is difficult to make such a thing in artisanal conditions, so the Recruit relies on a single, but perfectly tuned machine gun and constant training.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image Source: iz.ru
For some time we have been discussing with him the factory machines of old anti-aircraft machine guns from the Great Patriotic War and new systems with the installation of multi-barrel GSHG machine guns with thermal imagers on pickups. They are used in the Black Sea Fleet and can be seen periodically on videos on the Internet.
Igla with thermal imager
The Igla portable anti—aircraft missile system (MANPADS) is the key means of fighting the mobile group. The machine gun acts as a designator with tracer ammunition and provides cover at close range, while the Igla guarantees defeat: the thermal radiation from the drone's engine is enough to confidently capture the target. This is especially important because enemy drones carry large amounts of explosives and damaging elements, often equipped with self-destructors or detonation timers. A MANPADS missile, destroying a drone with a large number of fragments, minimizes possible damage when debris falls within the city. A hit from a machine gun, although not uncommon, does not always lead to the complete destruction of the hull and the detonation of ammunition in the air.
"To detect a target at night, we need a thermal imaging sight," explains Artyom, the MANPADS operator, demonstrating his device. — We found a drawing on the Internet for attaching a sight to a rocket launcher. The sight itself is army-made, from a large-caliber Utes machine gun, so it can withstand any shaking and effectively helps us in the fight against drones.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
A simple system with a plastic yoke allows you to pre-equip each rocket with fasteners, and the sight memory (designed for replaceable machine gun barrels) allows you to save settings for each launch tube in order to quickly rearrange it to a new one after firing.
— A month ago, we shot down an FP-1 outside the city. This is a large device carrying about 50 kg of explosives. Everything went according to plan, but the explosion in the air was so powerful that the entire waterproofing film in the area was blown away by the shock wave and the windows were broken. And a week ago, right from this point, we received a signal that the target was approaching. We prepared, heard, saw, and started working with tracers, after which our shooter hit the target with the first missile. It was a huge "Fierce" drone with a wingspan of 6 m. Consumption is one missile, the target is hit," Artyom recalls successful interceptions.
Advice to residents
This night of our watch was relatively quiet. From the top of the terricon, you can see far ahead how the horizon is illuminated by explosions of heavy ammunition dozens of kilometers away. After a message arrives on the radio about the passage of a low-flying drone, half an hour later, queue tracers are visible in the sky just a couple of kilometers away. The shooters are taking up combat positions, but there are no more flashes or launches in the vicinity — whatever was flying in our direction was intercepted. The waiting resumes, and the conversations return to the raids on Donetsk, which is native to all those gathered. I recall the recent drone strike on Gulliver Park, which had just opened and where citizens who had been deprived of such an opportunity for many years were walking.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
— I am a native of Donetsk myself. I have a mom, dad, sister here, my family walks around this city. People continue to live. We, the military, are focused on fighting the enemy. But people continue to live, and it is important for them to let their child go to school without anxiety, which is why our work is so necessary," Artyom concludes emotionally.
He also advises that as soon as dusk falls, move less and stay at home. The enemy is trying to outsmart everyone, and the drones are flying not during the day, but in the evening.
"I would ask on behalf of all military personnel: move around less, and most importantly, do not take pictures of our work and do not post it online, because linking to the terrain makes it easier for the enemy to find flight routes," Artyom asked.
Dmitry Astrakhan
