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Ukraine encountered difficulties despite shooting down hundreds of Russian suicide UAVs 0
(Dan Tri) – Ukraine says it shot down hundreds of Russian suicide drones (UAVs) used to attack cities, but experts say this shows the huge challenge that Kiev is facing.
A Russian suicide UAV flew over Kiev airspace on October 17 (Photo: AFP).
Eurasian Times commented that Russia’s use of a strategy of intensive attacks with suicide UAVs is causing great pressure on Ukraine’s defense shield, forcing Kiev to use expensive missiles to intercept expensive UAVs.
On October 19, Ukraine announced that it had shot down 223 Russian suicide UAVs in the past 36 days, using missiles from fighter aircraft and air defense systems.
The US and Ukraine accuse Russia of using UAVs purchased from Iran, something both Tehran and Moscow have repeatedly denied.
US Department of Defense press secretary Pat Ryder said on October 20: `I assess that Ukraine has fought effectively when dealing with suicide UAVs. However, UAVs really cause devastating impacts and
Ukraine said that it had intercepted most of Russia’s suicide UAVs targeting important infrastructure targets.
William Alberque, IISS Director of Strategy, Technology and Arms Control, told Eurasian Times: `Cheap suicide drones are a very complex threat. Russia could use several strategies
`Russia can attack many different targets – and attack those targets from unexpected directions rather than a direct attack – making defense very difficult. Another way is to use multiple diving UAVs
Challenges surround
Cheap suicide UAVs can cause huge damage.
On the other hand, expert Alberque commented that defending against a massive attack by UAVs is very expensive: `Defending against UAVs is very difficult because the advantage is always in favor of the proactive attacker. For every 10 USD
Each Russian suicide UAV costs only 10,000-20,000 USD, so using surface-to-air missiles or firepower launched from high-cost aircraft ranging from several hundred thousand to several million USD each to intercept is not optimal.
Russia’s massive launch of UAVs at targets both increases the risk of Ukraine being hit and causes Kiev to spend a large amount of money to deal with it.
Countries are currently looking for more optimal ways to intercept prices, for example using electronic warfare capabilities to prevent UAVs from committing suicide.
Expert Vladislav Lobaev of Lobaev Arms commented that using expensive missiles worth $1 million to fight cheap UAVs is economically impractical.
Mr. Alberque said that the best way to deal with suicide UAVs is to prevent them from entering the battlefield in the first place, for example by attacking the launch site before the UAVs depart.