Iranian-made drones are a headache for Ukraine's Air Force – spokesman

The Iranian-made drones deployed by Russia to attack Ukraine are continuing to cause problems for Ukraine’s Air Force.

Source: Yurii Ihnat, spokesman for Ukraine’s Air Force, in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda

Quote from Ihnat: "Iranian-made drones are a real headache. It’s still very difficult to down them.

When lots of them have been launched, they all fly along different routes, staying close to the ground, so that it’s difficult to shoot them from a plane. The drone’s speed is 150 km/h, while a fighter jet flies at a minimum of 400 km/h. [...]

And we can’t get those drones during the night using ground forces’ air defence equipment or mobile firing groups, either."

Details: Ihat said that Russia deliberately deploys these drones at night to wear down Ukrainian air defence – in particular, so that Ukraine’s defence forces expend anti-aircraft missiles to down those drones.

This allows Russian forces to determine where Ukrainian air defence systems are located, and take that into account during air-to-surface or naval-based missile strikes.

Read also: Spokesman for Ukraine's Air Force: If we had surrendered the sky, the entire country would look like Mariupol or Bakhmut

Background: Ukrainian air defence forces shot down six Iranian-made Shahed drones on the night of 10–11 June. It is unclear how many drones Russia launched.

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