Ukraine Testing At Least Four Jet-Powered Interceptors “Flash”

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) Ukraine is conducting combat testing of at least four interceptors designed to counter Russian jet-powered drones.

Serhii“Flash” Beskrestnov, a freelance adviser to the President of Ukraine on defense technology development, said this in a televised interview, Ukrinform reports.

He stressed that Ukraine needs faster jet-powered interceptors to counter jet-powered UAVs.

“We are now waiting for testing to be completed so that jet-powered interceptors can enter service and our guys can operate them fully. Right now, we are using missiles, while our fighter jets, guns and anti-aircraft systems are also working. However, when you are dealing with an altitude of, say, 3 kilometers and a speed of 500 km/h, mobile air defense teams, unfortunately, are no longer effective,” Beskrestnov said.

According to him, at least four Ukrainian jet-powered interceptors are currently in the final stage of testing.

See also: Portable air defense systems and aviation currently highly effective against jet-powered UAVs – Palisa

“Combat testing is now underway. We are testing them. If everything goes well, we will very quickly scale up our experience and this solution, and our guys will operate the interceptors,” the presidential adviser said.

He explained that the need to develop new interceptors arose because of changes in the cchaapabilities of Russian attack drones.

“Our manufacturers were initially geared toward the Geran-3, whose speed was around 280–300 km/h. But the Russians decided that this speed was too low and stopped producing it,” he said.

Russia is now using the Geran-4, whose speed can range from 300 to 500 km/h. Effective interception therefore requires systems capable of reaching speeds of around 600 km/h.

“This was a new challenge for our manufacturers, but I think everything will be fine, and very soon we will be using jet-powered interceptors against jet-powered Shahed drones,” Flash stressed.

See also: Russia launched 1,500 jet-powered Shahed drones at Ukraine in July, 2,500 in August --“Flash”

At the same time, the presidential adviser did not give a timeline for scaling up production of jet-powered interceptors, citing the sensitivity of information that could be used by the enemy.

As previously reported by Ukrinform, Russian forces have significantly increased their use of jet-powered UAVs - in July, they launched five times as many such drones as in June.

Photo via ArmyInform

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