(Dan Tri) – Ukraine believes that Russia has sought to improve Shahed suicide drones to `circumvent` Kiev’s air defense systems.
A Russian suicide UAV flies over Ukraine (Photo: AFP).
`Previously, they improved drones received from Iran and drones they produced themselves, using composite materials to reduce the effective radar reflection area,` the spokesperson said.
Ukrainian military officials say that Russia coated Shahed drones with carbon or repainted them black to make it harder for Ukrainian air defense systems to shoot down.
`Now we can see they used carbon fiber. Carbon is a material that absorbs radar signals, and as for repainting it black, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand,`
According to a spokesman for the Ukrainian air force, this Russian tactic `will hinder air defense efforts, especially the direct targeting of mobile fire groups.`
The Ukrainian Air Force said that on the night of November 24 and early morning of November 25, the country’s air defense system shot down 74 out of 75 Russian Shahed-131/136 UAVs targeting Ukrainian provinces and cities.
This is the largest UAV raid ever since Russia launched its military campaign in Ukraine last February.
Among them, the capital Kiev was attacked the most.
The Russian military actively uses weapons such as the Shahed-136 UAV to create many challenges for the Ukrainian forces’ combat plans.
Military experts say the Shahed-136 UAV can carry a 36kg warhead and has the ability to identify and destroy enemy radar stations.
Ukraine and Western intelligence accuse Iran of providing killer UAVs to Russia.
Shahed-136 is designed to self-destruct upon impact and has a low flight range, capable of avoiding radar.
Ukraine once posted images of `dissection` of Russian UAVs.
Russia began increasing the use of UAVs last October, in an effort to massively attack Ukraine’s essential infrastructure, causing the capital Kiev and many major cities to lose widespread power during the winter.
At the end of last year, the UK determined that Russia had used up most of its UAV inventory produced in Iran and seemed to continue to order from Iran.
