What anti-aircraft systems are the Russian military facing in the area of its
The United States and Germany have given the green light to the use of the MIM-104 Patriot air defense system against Russian military aircraft over Russian territory — beyond the border as of the period before its launch. But besides the Patriot complexes, the AFU has other air defense systems at its disposal. Many Western corporations use Ukraine as a testing ground for new combat systems. What is the motley fleet of air defense systems of Ukraine and what danger it poses to Russian forces — in the material of Izvestia.
Only in Ukraine
In 2023, deliveries to Ukraine of the latest Skynex air defense artillery system developed and manufactured by the German Rheinmetall concern began. Today they are in service only in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And just the other day, the media reported on a record order from Rheinmetall of several hundred thousand stores of 35mm AHEAD projectiles for them. Shells of this type are equipped with a remotely programmable fuse and are designed for use against aerial targets, and Skynex is a self—propelled artillery installation with an Oerlikon Mk3 automatic cannon, which has a high rate of fire (about 1000 rounds per minute). The main purpose of Skynex is the air defense of stationary objects at the last turn, that is, the defeat of cruise missiles, drones, guided bombs on approach to the target. The system is mounted on a MAN car chassis and can interact with radar with a range of up to 20-50 km. It is curious that actually in the West this air defense system is not used anywhere yet and, in fact, it is in Ukraine that it is being tested in combat conditions.
Skynex Air Defense
Image Source: Photo: commons.wikimedia.org/Rheinmetall
Another "innovative" model of anti-aircraft missile systems called FrankenSAM began to be used by the Armed Forces in 2024. This anti-aircraft missile system is a hybrid modification of the old Soviet Buk launchers for the use of more modern American Sea Sparrow and Sidewinder missiles. The first is a medium—range anti—aircraft missile, and the second is a short–range air-to-air missile adapted for use as air defense missiles. The first samples of these Frankenstein air defense systems were prepared overseas, but now it is reported that Ukraine can independently produce such missile systems.
Serious challenges
The most powerful air defense system, which is currently at the disposal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, remains the American anti-aircraft missile defense system/ABOUT Patriot. It can use several types of missiles with a range of up to 100 km and is currently the only system that can be used against ballistic missiles with non-zero efficiency. The Patriot battery includes the AN/MSQ-104 battery control center, the AN/MPQ-65 multifunctional radar station (radar) and up to eight M901 launchers being transported.
The Patriot air defense system is a stationary transportable complex that needs to deploy all components on the ground for combat work, and it takes a certain amount of time to deploy. The affected area of this SAM is sectoral, not circular, and therefore, for example, to protect someone from different directions, it is necessary to deploy several batteries of these sams.
American anti-aircraft missile defense system/ABOUT Patriot
Image source: Photo: Global Look Press/Soeren Stache
According to Western data, the German IRIS-T SLM air defense system showed relatively high effectiveness against cruise missiles and drones. For the first time, these complexes were delivered to Ukraine in the fall of 2022, these are fully mobile medium-range air defense systems (up to 40 km). The IRIS-T SLM launcher carries up to eight missiles in transport and launch containers. They are equipped with infrared homing heads, which allows firing at a large number of targets — the missiles are guided independently after launch using the principle of "shot and forgot". One of the recent packages of German military assistance included several installations of this SAM, which are likely to compensate for the losses of the Armed Forces — IRIS-T SLM combat vehicles have repeatedly come under fire from Russian Lancet-type weapons and not only.
The joint American-Norwegian NASAMS (Norwegian Advanced Surface to Air Missile System) air defense system is also considered quite effective in the West. This complex uses universal AIM-120 AMRAAM air–to-air missiles, which are widely used on Western aircraft. The complex provides all-round defense against air targets at a range of 20 to 180 km. At the same time, neither NASAMS nor IRIS-T can shoot down ballistic missiles, their main targets are airplanes, helicopters, cruise missiles, guided bombs and relatively large drones. The NASAMS battery consists of 12 launchers (each with six missiles), several radars, a command post and auxiliary vehicles. Complexes of this type have been supplied to Ukraine by the United States since 2022.
NASAMS Air defense system
Image source: Photo: TASS/ABACA
In addition, the AFU ground forces have at their disposal several types of heterogeneous short-range anti-aircraft systems such as the Avenger from the United States and Stormer-Starstreak from the United Kingdom. They use missiles for MANPADS (man-portable air defense systems), but have self-propelled landing gear. Also in the Armed Forces of Ukraine there are several dozen units of the German anti-aircraft self-propelled gun "Cheetah", which has already been decommissioned in the Bundeswehr. The Cheetah is equipped with two 35mm rapid-fire cannons and is relatively effective, probably only against helicopters and kamikaze drones of the Geranium type. In 2024, the Armed Forces of Ukraine may receive more than 90 "Cheetahs" from those stocks that exist in Germany. But globally, this is unlikely to seriously affect the situation.
And our Armed Forces have to work with all this "zoo". The methods of struggle here are clear — conducting complex operations involving diverse forces and means: detecting the positions of enemy air defense systems, identifying the type and composition, a comprehensive operation to defeat anti-radar and other types of guided missiles. In the case of more serious Patriot-type complexes, possibly involving Iskander or Dagger aeroballistic missiles. With the interaction of reconnaissance, land and air weapons, any anti-aircraft complex can be destroyed.
Dmitry Kornev
