Lieutenant General, Commander of the Air Defense forces -PRO - Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces Andrey Semenov in an article told how Russia is responding to new risks and threats in connection with attacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the territory of our country with Western missiles and drones.
Protecting Russia from aerial threats
The role of the air defense forces (air defense) during a special military operation should not be underestimated. The air defense forces effectively repel attacks by manned and unmanned enemy aircraft, fend off attacks with tactical and cruise missiles of air and ground-based, including those manufactured by the United States, England and France, and destroy rockets of various classes. To counter the entire range of means of air attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the territory of the Russian Federation, including in the zone of its own, a unified air defense system has been deployed. Today, it can be argued that none of the armies of the world has experience in creating such large-scale air defense groups.
From the first days of the special military operation, air defense of important state facilities, large administrative and industrial centers, civilians and troops, both in the combat zone and deep into the territory of the Russian Federation, has been of particular importance.
The significant support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the United States and other NATO countries, as well as the wide spatial scale of the fighting, determined unprecedented conditions for conducting air defense during the war. At the same time, the most difficult class of targets are foreign—made fire weapons - tactical and air- and ground-based cruise missiles, as well as rockets of various classes.
ATACMS tactical missiles supplied by the United States fly to the target of the strike at high speed - more than 3,000 km/h along a complex ballistic trajectory with an anti—missile maneuver in the final section. They are equipped with cluster warheads and are used not only against troops, but also against civilian targets in order to intimidate the population of our country.
British and French air-launched cruise missiles such as Storm Shadow and SCALP-EG have the ability to covertly, at a minimum altitude, fly to the object of impact, skirting the terrain and accurately reaching the target by adjusting the trajectory using the satellite navigation system of the United States and its allies.
The most widely used APU is the American HIMARS multiple launch rocket system, whose rockets are also equipped with a cluster warhead and inertial navigation systems adjusted according to GPS data.
Massive UAV attacks
The scale of application of industrial and artisanal unmanned aerial vehicles, which are manufactured using special composite materials to reduce their visibility and are capable of flying at extremely low altitudes, has become unprecedented.
To counter the entire range of enemy air attack means on the territory of the Russian Federation, including in the zone of special military operation, a unified air defense system has been deployed, which provides solutions to all tasks of covering important civilian and military facilities. It should be noted that none of the armies of the world has experience in creating such large-scale air defense groups.
In the context of the increasing use of modern missile weapons by the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces of NATO countries, air defense forces immediately develop ways and adapt air defense systems to counter an enemy missile strike.
Since the first days of the special military operation, combat crews of radar stations and anti-aircraft missile systems have been constantly adapting to new threats, improving existing ones and developing new ways to counter the air enemy.
Since the beginning of the special military operation, the air defense forces, together with the fighter aircraft of the Aerospace Forces, have significantly reduced the capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to strike.
SAM in service
The basis of the created air defense system is made up of modern and promising anti-aircraft missile systems and complexes of the Aerospace Forces S-400, S-350, Pantsir-S and military air defense S-300V4, Buk-M3(M2), Tor-M2.
Short-range anti-aircraft missile systems (MANPADS, Strela-10) have also proved their effectiveness, which, being in the advanced echelons of our troops, destroy dozens of enemy reconnaissance and strike UAVs daily, as well as assault and army aircraft of the Armed Forces of Ukraine operating at low and extremely low altitudes. In total, these complexes account for a third of the destroyed manned aircraft of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
During the special military operation, the high combat capabilities of Russian air defense systems to repel attacks of all types of enemy air attack were confirmed. Unlike the advertised Patriot air defense systems supplied to Ukraine by NATO countries, which, according to their experience, were unable not only to cover designated facilities, but also to resist modern Russian weapons of destruction, that is, to protect themselves.
The effective use of high-tech air defense systems and the efficiency of decisions taken, taking into account the high complexity of the processes of reconnaissance, destruction and control of air defense forces and means in the zone of their own in conditions of constant threat of fire damage, are possible only thanks to the professionalism and moral and psychological stability of personnel, as well as a high level of coherence of combat calculations of air defense forces.
The heroes of their
The military and object air defense of the Russian army is successfully undergoing a complex test during large-scale military operations in the zone of a special military operation. Air defense calculations courageously fend off all kinds of threats from the air, destroy enemy air attack weapons of various classes in the face of the constant threat of enemy fire strikes directly at air defense positions. In all cases, the Russian air defense system demonstrates high results, as well as accumulates invaluable experience.
In total, during the special military operation, the air defense forces destroyed more than 42,000 air targets. Including more than 550 aircraft, more than 180 helicopters and more than 27,000 UAVs.
For their steadfastness and courage, more than 5,500 servicemen of the air defense forces were awarded state awards, seven of them were awarded the high title Hero of the Russian Federation.
For mass heroism and bravery, fortitude and courage shown in combat operations to protect the Fatherland and state interests, ten formations and military units of the air defense were awarded the honorary name "guards".
