Ukrainians modernise Soviet surface-to-air missile system for shooting down Shahed UAVs – photos
Ukraine's defence forces have adapted the Soviet-era Kub ("Cube") surface-to-air missile system to strike Russian attack drones.
Source: Air Command Centre
Details: The Kub system was developed in the Soviet Union in the 1960s to protect "the Army, mainly tank divisions, from air attack aircraft flying at medium and low altitudes". At the time, the system was intended to engage aerial targets flying at speeds of 420-600 metres per second at altitudes from 100-200 metres to 5-7 kilometres, and its engagement range reached about 20 kilometres.
Ukrainian troops have now modernised the Kub by combining the platform of the self-propelled surface-to-air missile system with modern command-and-control solutions and tactics, the Air Force explained.
"Comparing Kub and Buk is almost impossible because they are two different systems. But experts in Ukraine have been able to combine them into a single whole. In combat work it is not difficult at all. Everything is carried out from the self-propelled launcher, all controls, launches. If a signal for the launch does not go through, then the crew commander on the Kub carries out the launch. But so far I have not had a case where a launch did not go through from my vehicle," said Oleksandr, a deputy commander of the battery.
Adapting the Soviet surface-to-air missile system to shoot down drones was necessary, among other things, because of the intensive use of various systems and the expenditure of missiles in the first years of the full-scale invasion, said the head of the battalion's combat command-and-control section, Oleh.
"In the years 2022-2023 we had to work our systems hard, and the missiles simply ran out. So we made a mishmash of Kub and Buk," the soldier said.
The Air Command Centre said that the modernised Kub has already shot down five Russian Shahed-type attack loitering munitions.
Previously: The Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine also uses the latest US Tempest surface-to-air missile systems and British Raven systems. Overall, during 2025, Ukrainian troops destroyed more than 27,000 Shahed-type attack loitering munitions.
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