Ukrainian Air Force reveals how pilots manage to shoot down Russian missiles

VALENTYNA ROMANENKO — MONDAY, 20 JUNE 2022, 16:47

Pilots of the Air Force of Ukraine sometimes manage to intercept Russian cruise missiles in the air.

Source: Army Inform

Details: The official publication of the Ministry of Defence [of Ukraine] gives an example of Russian cruise missiles launched from the Caspian Sea. Their launch (usually from strategic bombers of the Russian Federation) is recorded and the direction of flight is determined, which results in the activation of air-raid sirens simultaneously in many regions of Ukraine.

Quote: "For the pilots of one of the [Ukrainian] Air Force brigades, this launch meant a flight to intercept [the invader’s missile]. The next shift was at one of the operational airfields. Hearing the command, the pilots took off in pairs.

The radar station would be immediately turned on. There are two of them on the plane: one is a radar aiming complex that responds to objects, the other is a quantum optical-location station that responds to a thermal plume."

Details: The Air Force explains that Ukrainian planes are armed with missiles with semi-active seeking warheads, which are significantly weaker in their characteristics than modern NATO counterparts and the missiles that the Russian occupiers have.

Since the invaders’ cruise missiles usually fly at a very low altitude and have a small reflective surface, it is extremely difficult to detect them using radar alone, especially against the ground.

But because the Calibre, X-101, X-59 and X-555 missiles are equipped with conventional two-circuit jet engines, they leave a heat mark in the air, say representatives of the Air Force.

The pilot can see this heat mark with the help of a quantum optical-location station and attacks with air-to-air missiles.

Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the Russian air and space forces have struck Ukrainian facilities with X-555 and X-101 missiles (their launch range is 2,000 km and 5,500 km from Tu-95MS and Tu-160 strategic aircraft).

But their reserves of these expensive missiles have started to run low. Their use in strategic aircraft is also costly. Therefore, from the beginning of April, the Russians began to use X-59MK2 cruise missiles from operational and tactical aircraft.

According to the training officer, Ukrainian pilots were trained, told and shown on simulators what to consider when intercepting cruise missiles at the start of the war. The results were not long in coming - in just a few days, Ukrainian pilots managed to intercept one and destroy it.

In using cruise missiles against civilian infrastructure, destroying buildings, railways and factories, the Russians are imitating their predecessors, the Nazis. In June 1944, the Nazis began bombing London and other British cities with V-1 missiles (Vergeltungswaffe Eins). Then, for the first time, Royal Air Force fighter pilots began destroying them in the air," the statement says. 

Background:

Yurii Ihnat, the spokesman of the Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, explained at a briefing on 14 June that in Ukraine an air defence (not anti-missile) system has been deployed. It is supposed to hit the aggressors' planes and helicopters, but is not always effective against Russian missiles.