Since the Russian president changed Vladimir Putin The methods used in Ukraine To launch air strikes on infrastructure targets across the country, Moscow has intensified its use of two main weapons, namely: missiles Long-range cruise, the so-called Drones “Suicide bomber” (kamikaze). Both weapons are a flying species that flies to the target and then explodes upon arrival, but each weapon poses a different threat.
The missiles, which cost hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, fly fast and are difficult to shoot down, carrying a huge payload of explosives. But now the greatest threat may come from drones, although they are small, slow, cheap and easy to shoot down, but they are available in such large numbers that they come in swarms.
Here are some differences between missiles and drones:
*missiles
Russia may have used hundreds of millions of dollars in munitions in a single day, on October 10, when Putin signaled that he would use new methods in the war With the largest air strikes since it began, Russia has launched more than 80 cruise missiles at targets across Ukraine.
It is believed that the Kalibr missiles are capable of flying for a distance of 2,000 kilometers, landing at their targets at several times the speed of sound, and carrying warheads weighing more than 400 kilograms, including the possibility of carrying nuclear warheads.
These missiles are designed to destroy well-defended, high-value military targets such as warships and command posts. To shoot them down requires sophisticated and sophisticated air defenses suitable for defending specific and important targets rather than protecting a large area.
Kyiv says it has shot down more than half of the missiles launched by Russia in the past few weeks. But the massive barrage of missiles, on the 10th of October, killed at least 19 and brought down electricity poles in large areas of Ukraine.
Although Western analysts do not know exactly how many missiles Russia still has, their supplies are limited, making continued large-scale strikes like this unsustainable.
Western countries have promised to provide additional, more advanced missile defense systems, such as the American NASAMS system, and they are scheduled to be delivered in the next few months, and Washington is currently saying that it is accelerating the pace of their delivery. Last week, Germany sent the first of four batches of Iris-T air defense systems to Ukraine.
* Drones
Drones, or drones, can be used for reconnaissance and surveillance or as air-to-ground munitions launch platforms. But the simplest way to use it as a weapon is to fly towards the target and explode on it.
The so-called “Kamikaze Drones”, such as the Iranian Shahid model, can cost as little as the price of a small car.
Russia has already used hundreds of them in Ukraine over the past few weeks alone, and is believed to have acquired as many as 2,000 drones from Iran.
Each drone flies slowly enough to be shot down by a high-precision gun, and carries only a small payload of explosives equivalent to an artillery shell, but can travel hundreds of kilometers.
Kyiv says it has shot down the vast majority, and President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that Ukraine had shot down as many as 233 Shahid drones over the past month.
But because of their low cost, drones can be dispatched in swarms, making it difficult to prevent one or two from hitting a target and killing civilians in apartment buildings or damaging separate targets, such as power substations.
As for advanced air defenses that are used to protect high-value and important targets from missiles, they are not well suited to fend off cheap drones. An entire squadron of drones can cost less than one surface-to-air missile to shoot down just one.
Instead, specialized anti-drone defense systems rely on sensors that can “hear” the coming and dropping of a swarm from the ground using artificial intelligence software that helps monitor and track drones.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said this week that the Western military alliance would send anti-drone defenses to Ukraine in the next few days, but did not give further details.
(Archyde.com)
