Germany plans to send more air defense systems to Ukraine to help protect grain shipments from Russian bombing, according to a report cited by Bloomberg.
Berlin wants to hand over an additional IRIS-T system and more than a dozen Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft missiles to Kyiv to repel attacks on transport bound for Romania, close sources told Bloomberg.
The website reports that the Cheetah will arrive in Ukraine by the end of 2023, and the IRIS-T devices – later.
Germany has already bolstered Ukraine’s defenses against a Russian invasion with two IRIS-T systems sent in August.
According to Sky News, a senior Ukrainian official has called for a re-evaluation of Western anti-aircraft systems being supplied to Ukraine, saying simpler and cheaper weapons may be more cost-effective in countering Iran-made Russian Shahed drones.
A Ukrainian military man trains on a Cheetah in the Kyiv region Photo: Serhiy SUPINSKY / AFP / Profimedia
Mykhailo Podolyak, Volodymyr Zelenskyi’s adviser, noted that it is not only about providing more air defense systems, “but, first of all, about solving the mathematical problem that exists in the economy of war.”
According to him, while Western systems such as NASAMS and Iris-T have been used to shoot down missiles, using them to intercept Shahed drones may not be cost-effective, Podoliak wrote in English on X, formerly Twitter.
“Thus, it leads to the depletion of allies’ reserves and long-term weakening,” the Ukrainian official wrote.
“The solution is obvious: in addition to large-caliber mobile machine guns, today there are many simpler and cheaper anti-aircraft systems that have proven effective against Shahed. These are the Cheetah and the Vampire,” explained Podolyak.
The Gepard is a German-made autonomous armored self-propelled anti-aircraft system, while the American anti-drone system Vampire consists of a laser-guided missile launcher that can be mounted on the platform of a truck.
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Source: Hot News
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