Patriot and Soviet S-200 missiles were used in hunt for A-50 aircraft - Times
Ukraine's bold air defence tactics, honed over two years of planning, have dealt a significant blow to Russia's once-dominant surveillance fleet.
According to Censor.NET, The Times reports this with reference to interlocutors.
It is noted that in May 2022, it was decided to restore the S-200 system and begin its combat use. Officers who had previously operated these systems were found, as well as engineers capable of restoring them.
The publication's source, a senior officer in the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, said that the first launch took place in autumn 2023. However, the missiles failed to hit the target because the A-50 changed its flight path. However, despite this, the operation was successful in terms of demonstrating capabilities.
"We set an example for the Air Force so that they would not be afraid of being shelled. During the first attempt, when we launched two missiles, they saw how quickly we hid the launchers and evacuated - no one even noticed where we were," the DIU officer said.
Already this year, the Ukrainian Air Force has used truck-mounted Patriot batteries.
An unnamed Ukrainian Air Force lieutenant colonel told The Times that it was "very risky" - it was necessary to drive the Patriot very close to the front, which means five or six large vehicles.
On 14 January, a SAM battery was waiting for the A-50 as it crossed the Sea of Azov with an Il-22 command centre aircraft.
The Russian crews believed they were well beyond the range of any ground threat. They had less than two minutes to react before the missiles struck - the A-50 crashed into the sea, while the Il-22 was damaged and was able to return to base.
As soon as the Kremlin realised that the A-50s were vulnerable, it moved them out of the Sea of Azov, out of Patriot's range. However, they continued to be within range of the S-200 system. And on 23 February, an S-200 battery under the command of the DIU hit the second aircraft, which was about 170 kilometres from the front line.
During another operation, Ukrainian forces used the S-300 system with its radar on as a decoy and lured the aircraft into the Patriot's range.
"They were happy to fly out to destroy the S-300 and then the Patriot appeared. Out of six planes, two were shot down by S-300, and four by Patriot," Lieutenant Colonel of Air Force said
On 19 April, the DIU used an S-200 to strike a Tu-22MZ bomber as it was launching missiles at Ukraine. The enemy aircraft crashed over the Stavropol Krai.
Since then, the DIU officer told reporters, the Russians have changed the distance of their missile launches.
"We have pushed them away from some targets they could have attacked," the officer told the newspaper.
As a reminder, in June this year, Russia's Investigative Committee acknowledged that the Ukrainian Armed Forces shot down a Russian A-50U long-range radar and control aircraft in February 2024.
