Ukraine will continue to strengthen its air defense with Western models, as effectiveness of Soviet systems is declining, - Ihnat
As the stockpile of Soviet anti-aircraft missiles is depleted, and the effectiveness of older systems continues to decline, Ukraine will gradually replace them with Western models.
This was said by the spokesman of the Air Force Command of the AFU, Colonel Yurii Ihnat in an interview with RBC-Ukraine, Censor.NET reports.
Answering a question about how Ukraine is strengthening air defense, he noted that it is primarily about mobile fire groups. They are not very effective, but 10-15%, sometimes even 30% of downed targets fall on them.
"Yes, today we are losing the potential of the old Soviet weapons, because, on the one hand, the equipment is failing, and on the other hand, there are fewer Soviet anti-aircraft missiles produced by Russia. It is clear that we do not have the opportunity to use them. But we are being strengthened by Western systems, which, although fewer, are much more effective," Ihnat added.
He explained that, first of all, we are talking about the Patriot and SAMP-T systems, which are capable of shooting down ballistic targets. "Patriot has already demonstrated this by shooting down the Dagger, and SAMP-T still needs to be tested in combat conditions. In particular, NASAMS and Iris-T are also four complexes that will be the basis of air defense of the Air Force in the future," he noted.
"Furthermore, the Gepard-type air defense systems of the Ground Forces are anti-aircraft guns that can also destroy targets in automatic mode, which gives a very effective operation. But they have a short range. In addition, the French Crotale. These are the main means that will probably replace the Air Defense Forces of the Ground Forces now," Ihnat noted.
According to Ihnat, Ukraine needs to count on the newest air defense systems, in particular, Iris-T. He welcomed Berlin's decision to produce four more air defense systems.
"Manufacturers should be interested in long-term cooperation with Ukraine in the future, because we will in any case replace the entire Soviet fleet of equipment that we have - the S-125, Buk-M1, C-300 of various modifications, which we can no longer count on in the future," Ihnat explained.
He added that Ukraine plans to replace the entire Soviet park with Western complexes, in connection with which it expects continued assistance from the West.
He also talked about how the allies will soon strengthen Ukrainian air defense.
"Germany gives us four Iris-T systems. Then NASAMS, it was announced at the summit in Vilnius about two more systems that Norway provides us. The USA is more restrained in some forecasts and promises, this has been observed for a long time. This can be seen even on the example of the F-16. When they consider it necessary, then they will say it," Ihnat said.
It will be recalled that Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of the National Security Council, stated that Ukraine currently lacks the capabilities to shoot down the missiles with which the Russians attack Ukrainian ports, but the state is already working on strengthening air defense.
