Ukrainian air defense is facing growing challenges: a shortage of missiles for the SAMP/T and Crotale air defense systems, as well as changes in Russian attack tactics, are leading to a decrease in the effectiveness of repelling strikes.

As Censor.NET reports , Le Monde writes about this.

According to an unnamed source, Ukraine no longer has missiles for its two SAMP/T batteries, and it has “not received a single missile in a year and a half” for the Crotale short-range anti-aircraft system.

The publication notes that the defense of Ukrainian territory is becoming increasingly complex. The growing number of projectiles, their heterogeneity (drones, cruise and ballistic missiles), and the complexity of the routes they travel are exhausting the capabilities of Ukrainian air defense.

Thus, according to the report, back in 2024, Ukraine’s air defense managed to shoot down over 90% of enemy drones, but now this figure has dropped to 30% in some places. The reason is simultaneous attacks by various means of destruction: drones, cruise and ballistic missiles, as well as the constant improvement of Russian “Shahed” drones.

The deputy commander of the Yakut Air Defense Unit, which consists of 23 mobile groups and protects the skies over the Odessa region, noted that since January, the “shaheeds” have been flying at an altitude of 2,000 to 3,000 meters instead of 200 meters, which makes it impossible to hit them with small arms.

“When they dive at speeds of over 500 km per hour, it’s very difficult to hit them,” he explained.

The publication noted that these drones, initially delivered by Tehran to Moscow, are now being mass-produced near the Russian city of Kazan. They carry three times the payload – 90 kg – with various types of explosives: fragmentation, submunitions, incendiary or thermobaric.

“The Russians are also innovating, and they have more resources at their disposal. They just launched five samples of a new type of missile in our zone, which they call the Banderol,” said Artem, 34, commander of an anti-aircraft missile battery of 30 soldiers stationed in southern Ukraine.

He said the Russians are using increasingly complex trajectories in programming their drones and cruise missiles. Sometimes they scatter in the sky and then regroup again. They are also using a lot of physical and electronic decoys. The idea is to exhaust our ammunition and saturate our capabilities.

Artem’s unit, armed with a battery of Nasams air defense systems equipped with American missiles, as well as Soviet-made S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems, also deploys numerous decoys on the ground to mislead the enemy.

However, he said, in order to confront the growing challenges, “we need much more long-range systems, such as Patriot, Iris-T and SAMP/T. We have nothing at the moment. Today we have nothing to protect southern Ukraine from missiles.

According to a Le Monde source, Ukraine no longer has missiles for two SAMP/T batteries, and for the Crotale short-range anti-aircraft missile system “has not received a single missile in a year and a half.”

What is known about the SAMP/T complex?

SAMP/T is a ground-based anti-aircraft missile system using Aster missiles. The system was developed by the European consortium Eurosam, formed by MBDA Italy, MBDA France and Thales.

SAMP/T is designed for air defense of mechanized units, as well as air cover of important stationary objects from massive attacks by a wide class of air targets, including aircraft, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles.

SAMP/T can destroy enemy aircraft at ranges from 3 km to 100 km and ballistic missiles at ranges from 3 km to 25 km, the height of the attack is up to 25 km. All 8 Aster 30 missiles, which are contained in one launcher, can be fired in a single salvo in 10 seconds.

Author:  Marina Makeeva Джерело: https://censor.net/ua/n3554353

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