the majority of combat confirmed aircraft losses over ukraine appear to have been downed by bazooka
like man portable air defense systems including the us stinger or russian aidless systems
man pads are mostly heat-seeking short-range weapons that are rarely effective beyond
ten thousand to fifteen thousand feet that makes them more useful against helicopters
and less against modern warplanes which can fly up to forty thousand to sixty thousand feet high
but while manpads have indeed down many helicopters and the odd drone
or two over ukraine they have also claimed a surprising number of jets
now the united kingdom which has already delivered at least 3
615 in-law anti-tank missiles is reportedly moving to deliver much longer range jatalin missiles
and its own bespoke man pads the ultra-fast thales star street
what is star streak star streak is a man portable air defense system or man pads
used by the british military since 1997 it has the ability to knock out helicopters
low-flying fighter jets and drones the weapon can be affixed to vehicles as well
it will be able to integrate with other air defenders in the ukrainian anti-aircraft network
starstreak can be shoulder fired or mounted on a stand each star street missile weighs 30
pounds and its range is 4.3 miles with a 3 mile ceiling it is considered one of the fastest air
defense missiles in the world with a top speed of mach 3.5 that can track fast-moving jet fighters
the launch sequence starts with the operator looking through the viewfinder
and painting the target to optically track it then the system initiates with a touch of a button
three darts are deadly when the multi-stage missile is fired it zooms to the target
and then releases three laser-guided submunitions that are armed with high explosives
these have a delayed fuse so the three darts with thermal batteries and kinetic energy penetrate
into the target before the blast thus star streak has a better chance of eliminating enemy aircraft
the system can take on three targets quickly without reloading
stingers have worked against the russians star street can join this fight
russian helicopters have proven susceptible to manpads such as the stinger
the russians have used helicopters in air assault operations and the ukrainians have
been able to repel these types of attacks star streak if it is indeed shipped to the defenders
will add to anti-air capabilities against russian helicopters
star streak can address new russian helicopter tactics the russians have also adjusted tactics to
fly attack helicopters out in front of convoys for early warning and to suppress ukrainian fire star
streak will be able to engage these aircraft with those fast and maneuverable missiles the three
submunitions that launch out of the missile will be deadly against russian helicopters
as major ukrainian cities have become encircled the russians are increasingly using fighter
bombers to strike civilian targets starstreak if it can get in the hands of ukrainian troops
can down more russian fighters overall this british system would be a welcome addition
and it shows that britain is serious about assisting the ukrainian military
what man pats has ukraine already received
ukraine has received at least two thousand fim-92 stinger missiles according to a u.s
official the stinger uses both infrared and ultraviolet imaging to home in on aircraft while
discriminating against decoys it can accelerate up to mach 2.5 and reach targets up to three miles
away at altitudes above to around twelve thousand five hundred feet in the hands of musin fighters
it famously was responsible for heavy soviet aircraft losses over afghanistan in the 1980s
there is cool they're good you can shoot them anyway
um
thank you sir thank you
we're still waiting on orders
reactions
hey let's go somebody
where our base of fire was gonna be you know what i mean but you guys
started once we got past the road this microwave
so um
probably going to be like in a tactical column
down this road so uh right here what they're all setting right now is called cross cover okay
security hole to establish that baseline all right hey if it takes a 20 minute short short security
hole to establish a baseline okay that's the most important thing when it comes to matter here
and those buildings over there see why because you can't cover these
buildings okay again open gate
when it comes down to this you can't be sure