Russia’s jet drones fly at 700 km/h. Ukraine is meeting them with 1970s heat-seekers
The R-73 was the missile for the job. Ukraine has burned through enough of them to bring back a weapon that was obsolete in 2022.
Ukrainian fighters are successfully intercepting fast, jet-propelled Russian attack drones and missiles, but they are facing a shortage of modern heat-seeking missiles. These Geran-3, Geran-4, and Geran-5 drones, as well as Banderol missiles, can travel at speeds of 700 km/h, making them hard to intercept. Ukraine's air force is deploying more supersonic fighters to chase down the Russian munitions, but they are running low on infrared-guided AIM-9 and radar-guided AIM-120 missiles for their F-16 fighters.
Meanwhile, older Soviet-era MiG-29 fighters are still being used in combat, armed with the older R-60 and R-73 missiles. The R-73 missile, costing $300,000, is more maneuverable and accurate, but its effectiveness can be affected by cloud conditions. The shortage of modern missiles is pushing Ukrainian pilots to use older, less effective R-60 missiles.
Written by urgent.news from Euromaidan Press's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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