Ukraine uses hybrid air defense system

Spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force Yuriy Ihnat said this during a telethon.

He said that hybrid air defense systems are nothing new. "The fact that American and Ukrainian specialists were able to, let's say, combine the Soviet elements with the American ones. This practice already works with aviation, we know that our fighters launch American bombs and missiles, which we managed to adapt," Ihnat said.

According to him, the implementation process was not easy: Ukrainian and American experts gathered in the United States to test these systems at US training grounds.

"And the fact that they reported that there is such a first use, the first shootdown, is good for us. Any means that work will certainly be of great benefit. We have no other choice," emphasized the spokesman.

Ihnat explained that hybrid air defense systems are not long-range and can operate at a distance of about 15 kilometers. "Therefore, we cannot expect to shoot down anything at long distances. But why not use them locally to cover critical infrastructure, military facilities, or anything else? If there is a certain stock of anti-aircraft missiles and a place to install them, we will use everything possible," he said.

Ihnat also emphasized that it is planned to modernize the man-portable air defense system (MANPADS), as mobile firing groups do, by equipping them with thermal imaging equipment to increase the rate of destruction of air targets with MANPADS.

• On the night of January 17, the Ukrainian Defense Forces used the FrankenSAM hybrid air defense system in combat for the first time. It shot down a Shahed from a distance of 9 kilometers.