Ukraine’s air defense does not have an effective method to destroy the Shahed-136 suicide drone because it is not clear how effective this weapon is.
The Iranian-made Shahed-136 suicide drone has been actively used by the Russian Army to attack Ukrainian cities, especially Odesa and Dnipro, while Ukrainian air defense has not yet had an effective solution to it.
In particular, analysts of The Drive publication claim that the Shahed-136-type drone can strike both conventional military targets and radar stations by detecting radiation sources.
It does not appear to be possible to confirm or deny this statement by The Drive publication. According to current data, not a single prototype of the Shahed-136 UAV has fallen into the hands of Ukrainian military experts, similar to the Mojaher-6 captured a short time ago.
Defense Express website notes that The Drive analysts may have confused some characteristics of the Iranian-made Shaheh-136 suicide drone.
The ability to identify targets with radar radiation needs to be provided by a passive targeting head, but the ability of Iran to create such a sensor of the required size and ensure its performance is far away. argumentative.
But if the statement of The Drive portal is correct, their note is important, especially when viewed from the outside, Iran’s Shahed-136 suicide drone is very similar to the Israeli-made Harpy.
This means that when fighting the Shahed-136, the Ukrainian air defense system will face danger because the surface-to-air missile complexes will be recognized by this suicide UAV through radar radiation to find it. extermination.
Here we are talking not only about the S-300 or Buk-M1 type air defense system operating under radar guidance, but also the German Gepard type “air defense tank” when the system is equipped. Two radars to search and lead shot.
The website Defense Express then listed the types of air defense equipment that can protect the cities of the rear of Ukraine against Iranian-made suicide drones.
If indeed the Shahed-136 is equipped with a passive radar sensor, the S-300, Buk-M1 or Gepard systems should not be used against it. Instead, it is better to put their trust in man-portable anti-aircraft missiles or anti-aircraft guns with optical aiming systems.
In addition, the laser-guided APKWS missile system – although designed to destroy ground targets, is also fully adjustable to fire at aerial targets. This method is also powered by the British STARStreak rocket.
Ukraine can also rely on electronic warfare systems to fight the aforementioned suicide UAV, recently it was reported that there have been a number of specialized weapons sent by Israel to Poland to hand over from there. for Ukraine.
If an intact Shahed-136 suicide drone is obtained, Ukrainian military engineers will discover whether the vehicle really carries a passive radar sensor.
In addition, from the downed corpses, Ukraine can still find out the secret of the Shahed-136 suicide drone if the important components have not been completely destroyed.
