Air defense and electronic warfare units of the Ground Forces destroyed almost 60 Russian reconnaissance drones over Ukraine in a week.

Lieutenant General Oleksandr Pavliuk, Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, announced this.

Enemy air targets were shot down, both in the rear and along the line of contact.

Between July 13 and 19, the air defense of the Ground Forces destroyed 154 aerial reconnaissance and strike systems of the Russian troops, including six Kh-101/555 cruise missiles.

Besides, 148 drones of various types were destroyed:

• UAV Shahed-131/136 – 12 units;
• UAV Orlan-10/30 – 11 units;
• UAV Zala – 40 units;
• UAV “Lancet” – 35 units.
• UAV Supercam – 8 units;
• UAV “Pryvet-82” – 27 units;

In addition, 15 enemy drones of unspecified type were shot down.

The list includes 59 Orlan, Zala, and Supercam drones, which the Russians actively use to conduct reconnaissance and adjust strikes both on the front line and in the rear areas. Therefore, the destruction of such drones is a crucial task for Ukrainian air defense and electronic warfare.

Pavliuk also noted that the Ukrainian military suppresses a significant number of tactical UAVs of the Russian occupiers, in particular FPV drones and wing drones, using various electronic warfare means.

“Over the past week alone, our warriors have thwarted about 5,000 missions for enemy fixed-wing UAVs and more than 3,000 enemy FPV drones!” the commander noted.

Fighting Russian drones

In addition to traditional systems of fighting air targets, such as SAMs, anti-aircraft guns, and machine guns, the Ukrainian military also uses FPV drones to shoot down Russian reconnaissance drones.

Intercepting drones with other drones is a relatively new and promising area of air defense development. In recent months, Ukrainian FPV drones have destroyed multiple Russian reconnaissance drones in the air, including ZALA, Orlan-10, and even a Lancet loitering munition.

Ukraine also uses a two-seat piston single-engine Yak-52 training aircraft to intercept Russian reconnaissance drones. The shooter in the cockpit intercepts UAVs using small arms.