Russia launches more and more Shahd-136: how they bypass the air defense and what to prepare for Ukrainians

According to expert estimates, in September, Russian invaders launched 521 Dron-Kamikadze Shahd, 16 of them on the night of October 30 to October 1. This is a new record, the previous one in May 2023 - 413 UAVs. Oleksandr Kovalenko doubts that the record indicator was the result of launching the plant for the SHAHAHED-136 collection in Russia, because according to the information he has major problems with production.

For example, in the first six months of 2023, they planned to release a experimental party of 100 drones in a closed cycle, that is, completely at their capacity, but could not do so. "The delivery time was thwarted because the sharp dependence of production on the supply of smuggling spare parts has been preserved, and no closed cycle from scratch will not work in the near future, in the issues of production of ShahED-136, keeping dependence on Iran,"-said the analyst.

It is possible that Iran has increased the production of its UAVs, which allowed Russia to make more attacks. When Moscow appealed to Tehran to provide Shahd-136, these drones were collected exclusively by hand and in the amount of no more than 50 units per month. By the end of 2022, Iran was able to increase production to 100 pieces per month. "It is possible that as of May, this figure reached 150-200.

I will note that in February, March and April, the intensity of beats was lower than 100 a month. That is, at that time the Russians had the opportunity to accumulate ammunition," Alexander suggested Kovalenko. - It was for this reason that the September plaque could become a record, as a result of involving the accumulated BC. " At the same time, the majority of Shahd-136, launched by Russia in September, hit the port infrastructure and grain storage facilities in the Odessa region.

According to the observer, Russian troops use "grain terror" and change the routes of flight Dronov-Kamikadze to find gaps in the Ukrainian air defense system. Judging by the decrease in the number of whipped ShahED-136, they succeed. On October 2, a representative of the Air Force of Ukraine Yuri Ignat said on October 2, that the military see signs that the occupiers would be more likely to attack Shahd drones than rockets.

The Russians increase the stock of drones, and therefore, Ukrainians need more means of combating them, and the air defense systems can only be obtained from Western partners. On the night of October 2, the Air Force of Ukraine recorded the start of 7 drones of Shahd, of which managed to knock down 4. As Yuri Ignatus noted, now the army of the Russian Federation launches few drones, looking for safe routes and checking the efficiency of air defense in different places.

The Defense Express made Shahd statistics and noted that in September the Russians used them very stable - the longest pause was only two days (September 21 and 22). The number of drones was different - from 6 to 44, the average proportion of destroyed goals - 78. 7, and this is a fairly high figure. Analysts noticed how the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation changed the directions of attacks to find vulnerability in the protection system.

Initially, the invaders were beaten for a long time and massively in the Odessa region, after which they aimed at Vinnytsia and Khmelnytsky, and finally attacked Cherkasy. In the latter case, the efficiency of the air defense decreased to 53%, as she managed to knock down only 16 of 30 drones. According to experts, Russia will increasingly use such large -scale attacks, launching a lot of ShahED at the same time and constantly changing the vector of strokes.

For the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, it is a fairly cheap weapon, the cost of each Iranian UAV is estimated at $ 20-40 thousand, and it is difficult for Ukrainians to fight them, not least because of the high cost and limited number of anti-aircraft missiles.

On September 28, a representative of the Trophy and Prospective Weapons and Military equipment of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Andriy Rudyk told how Russia tries to accelerate the production of Shahd-136, which calls "Geran-2". Ukrainian military experts studied the captured UAVs and concluded that the Russians establish components of their own production, as well as Chinese engines.