The Drive: Polish MANPADS "Thunder" would be very useful for Ukraine
Portable anti-aircraft missile systems (MANPADS) "Thunder", which Poland will supply to Ukraine, would be very useful for Kiev now. The possibilities that Polish weapons will provide to the Armed Forces of Ukraine were evaluated in the American edition of The Drive.
The publication claims that Russia, in the event of a possible invasion of Ukraine, will allegedly use helicopters and attack aircraft, against which MANPADS are especially effective. "MANPADS can threaten all types of aircraft, from fighter jets to helicopters, especially those that do not have reliable infrared countermeasures systems," the newspaper writes.
Meanwhile, the publication notes that it is not clear exactly which modifications of the Thunder will be received by Ukraine, and how effective they will be against modern Russian aircraft, including unmanned ones. The publication also draws attention to the similarity of the "Thunder" with the Igla MANPADS available to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which reduces the time for training military personnel to use new equipment.
In October 2021, Defence24 noted that the maximum range of the Russian MANPADS "Willow" is five kilometers, and the maximum flight altitude is three and a half kilometers. "If this is true, then the Polish Piorun MANPADS are better than their Russian counterparts. And not only Russian ones," the Polish edition wrote.
In response to this, in November of the same year, TASS columnist Dmitry Litovkin stated that the Polish Piorun is the best of the worst portable anti-aircraft missile systems (MANPADS) and does not surpass the Russian Verba.