Many experts have rushed to ridicule Russia’s acquisition of Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for use in special operations in Ukraine, but do not underestimate the capabilities of these platforms and the threat they pose. This was written in an article for 19fortyfive by Kem McMillan, a veteran of the US mission in Iraq, Captain C-RAM (air defence), who was responsible for countering unmanned aerial systems.
“I too scoffed at the idea that Iranian drones posed any threat to me, my soldiers. <…> It didn’t take us long to realise that these drones are not worth abandoning, and they pose a serious threat to our forces,” the author said.
He notes that so far Russia has reportedly acquired Iranian Mohajer-6 drones, as well as several Shahed series platforms, including Shahed 129, Shahed 191 and Shahed-136, which have already destroyed US-supplied M777 howitzers in Ukraine. The Wall Street Journal recently wrote about this.
“Shahed-136 is a kamikaze drone carrying explosives and flying directly at the target. These kamikaze drones kept me and my friends up at night in Iraq,” the author notes.
It’s important to recognise the considerable challenges these drones can pose to the defence of ground forces, writes Macmillan. First, they are exceptionally difficult to track with radar because they do not have the characteristics of manned aircraft, for which most modern air defence systems are designed.
“Because of their short radar range, relatively low speed and low altitude, drones present a unique challenge. They require the use of special technology that allows air defence to identify drones,” he said.
Secondly, even if the Ukrainian Armed Forces learn to identify and track Iranian UAVs, they are difficult to shoot down for the same reasons that make them difficult to detect on radar: they are not manned aircraft, and most air defense systems are not designed to shoot down such targets.
We shall remind you that the US publication The New York Times earlier reported that military officers acknowledged the effectiveness of the new kamikaze drones used by the Russian army due to significant losses in equipment from these drones.
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