Hunting Su-25s: Raven Already Shot Down More Than Two Dozen Drones and Several Missiles

One of Ukraine’s Raven anti-aircraft missile systems has already destroyed 24 enemy drones and four Russian missiles.

The Air Command “West” of the Ukrainian Air Force shared that this system is also used to destroy enemy aircraft.

Initially, the Raven air defense missile system was expected to be effective primarily against drones.

“And we destroyed 24 strike and reconnaissance UAVs with it,” the crew reported.

The commander of the 223rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment noted that Raven also successfully shoots down cruise and guided missiles.

So far, his Raven has destroyed three Kh-59 missiles and one Kh-101 missile.

The combat crew destroyed the first missile in November 2023 as it approached one of the regional centers.

“Then we reported that we were ready to work on the missiles. And we received permission. We acted quickly: the driver positioned the vehicle toward the target, and the operator detected and captured it, taking the launcher’s characteristics into account. The commander made the decision to launch. From the moment of detection to launch, only a few seconds passed — and our missile hit the Kh-59 missile.
Within a month, we destroyed a Kh-101, and later — two more Kh-59s,” says the commander.

However, the Voronivka crew did not stop there. The next level of combat operations was an attack on a Russian Su-25, which was carrying out airstrikes on Ukrainian infantry in the eastern direction.

“We spotted the target in the sky over temporarily occupied territory,” Artem recalls. “We confirmed visually and with our equipment that it was an enemy aircraft in the strike zone. The tracking was stable, and the system signaled that it was ready to launch. We received permission from the command and carried out the launch. The result is unknown — the aircraft is maneuverable and fast. But for the pilot, it was a very unpleasant surprise.”

After that, according to the military, Russian aircraft began to appear in this direction much less frequently.

Raven air defense

The system for Ukraine was developed in just four months based on an idea from the Royal Air Force’s Aviation and Space Forces Center.

British engineers proposed using the available Supercat HMT-600 base to install ASRAAM short-range air-to-air missiles on it.

The ASRAAM missiles were adapted for ground launch in record time – the conversion took only three months.

Controlling the launch of the missiles is quite simple. He said that control is via a remote control with four switches and a “start” button.