Russia launches aerostats to detect Ukrainian air defenсe systems and deplete ammunition – Estonian Intelligence

The Russian Armed Forces have started using weather probes to obtain information on the positions of Ukrainian air defence systems.

Source: Margo Grosberg, Head of the Intelligence Centre of the Estonian Defence Forces, as European Pravda reports, citing ERR news outlet

Quote: "This week, for the first time, a strange phenomenon occurred, when meteorological balloons were observed over Kyiv. I don't know whether the Russian Federation got this idea from the [recent alleged] Chinese [spy] balloons [in the US] or from somewhere else, but in any case, we can see that this new tactic has now been introduced,"

Details: As he states, the main purpose of spy balloons launched over Ukraine is to exhaust Ukrainian air defence, as Ukrainian forces have to track down and destroy them, because there is no data on whether they carry any cargo.

Quote: "This both wastes anti-aircraft weapons and exhausts the crews. It also makes the anti-aircraft crews visible as a result of their actions, because you can then see where the missiles are coming from," Grosberg explained.

Moreover, the cost of such a balloon is much lower than the price of an anti-aircraft missile. "So, it's a very cheap and clever trick. It remains to be seen how long [it will go on for] and how the Ukrainians will respond to this manoeuvre," he noted. 

In response to a clarifying question, Grosberg explained that the balloons launched by Russian forces are ordinary weather probes, not equipped with reconnaissance equipment, and do not pose a military threat. "The ones which have been shot down were carrying reflectors to make sure they would be detected by air defence radars. That is part of the tactic to exhaust the Ukrainian air defences," Grosberg explained. 

Grosberg also pointed out that a cruise missile manufactured this year was used in the Russian air strike on Lviv in January 2023.

"Inspection of the remains of the Kh-101 missile has led to the conclusion that it was produced this year. This shows that Russia continues to have the capability to produce these kinds of missiles. At the moment, we do not know and are not able to assess whether it is (using) pre-war stockpiles that allows them to produce these kinds of missiles to be produced or whether there are other factors behind it," he said.

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