Lieutenant-colonel of the DPR National Front, a member of the republic’s parliament, Baevsky clarified that the defeat of air defense systems was out of the question
The Ukrainian side is using AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missiles in Donbass haphazardly, they are targeting random objects, Lieutenant Colonel of the People’s Militia, MP of the Donetsk People’s Republic Andrey Bayevsky said, TASS reports.
Baevsky noted that the missile was originally designed to defeat air defence radar systems.
“The homing head installed on this missile is guided by radar radiation and thus makes it possible to disable the most important integrated air defence systems. The start of deliveries of this system by the West shows first of all that our air defence system is built very effectively and does not allow for the use of the remnants of the Ukrainian air force,” he explained.
At the same time, according to him, the actual experience of the use of the missile by the AFU differs from what was intended.
“It is very difficult to call its use successful. The known cases of its application show that the AFU uses it as a conventional missile with a long range – up to 150 km – and a sufficiently powerful warhead of 66 kg. It is launched from the longest possible range towards a major population center in the hope that the seeker will pick something up on approach. Naturally, it is not hitting any air defence systems, it is being directed at random radio sources, which can be anything in a modern city: from a mobile phone tower to a radio station in a trucker’s cabin,” he said.
According to Baevsky, this could explain the missiles of this type hitting civilian objects.
“As a result, we see, for example, an AGM-88 HARM exploding near an apartment building on Bogdan Khmelnitsky Avenue [in Donetsk], where a priori there cannot be any air defense radars, it is a completely unsuitable place for radars,” he said.
Bayevsky explained that the AFU, by using AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missiles in Donbass, is simply reporting to its suppliers, other grounds for their use are dubious.
“The missiles were supplied as part of another budget tranche, this is just a way of spending the allocated funds. On the other hand, Kiev has to declare that it has received state-of-the-art weaponry. At the same time, the AFU cannot provide proper incoming inspection, proper maintenance or suitable conditions for use – in other words, no elements that ensure at least some successful use of these missiles. But in terms of information and in terms of accountability for the funding they are obliged to use it to show: we have been supplied, we are using it and let’s do it again,” he concluded.