Ukraine Deploys New Defense System to Thwart 'Drone Swarms'

Ukraine is actively deploying German-donated Skynex systems to its network of air defenses, new footage indicates, as Kyiv battles persistent Russian drone and missile barrages.

Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of Ukraine's air force, shared footage on Sunday showing Ukrainian pilots firing air-launched missiles, including Western-supplied long-range cruise missiles. The footage also showed several ground-based systems in operation.

Open-source intelligence accounts and Ukrainian media identified part of the Skynex air defense system from the footage.

Figures published by the German government show Berlin has delivered two Skynex systems along with ammunition to Ukraine. The first Skynex air defense system was delivered to the Ukrainian armed forces in 2023, according to the system's manufacturer, Rheinmetall. The German government indicated the second system had arrived in late April.

The Skynex is a short-range air defense system. Rheinmetall describes the system as particularly suited to "very short-range contexts where guided missiles are ineffective."

Ukraine has long lobbied for air defense systems from its Western allies, not least the United States-made Patriots, which are considered the gold standard of air defense, as it contends with Russia's heavy aerial bombing campaigns. Air defenses have featured heavily in recently unveiled aid packages destined for Ukraine.

Large systems like the Patriot can intercept missiles described as hypersonic, while Ukraine also operates smaller air defense systems more often used to take out drones, such as man portable air defense systems (MANPADS) or large-caliber guns. The German-supplied Flakpanzer Gepard, a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun mounted on a tank chassis, has been lauded for its performance in Ukraine.

The range of systems is designed to provide coverage against a range of different incoming threats.

Russia has been consistently hammering Ukraine with missile and drone strikes, while Kyiv had warned it was running out of air defense missiles to knock out incoming targets.

"The enemy attacks us with bombs and missiles around the clock, conducts aerial reconnaissance, and attacks us with attack drones every night," Oleshchuk said over the weekend.

Skynex is "particularly effective against drone swarms due to its Advanced Hit Efficacy and Destruction (AHEAD) ammunition," Guy McCardle, the managing editor of Special Operations Forces Report (SOFREP) told Newsweek in January.

The 35mm AHEAD ammunition fired as part of Skynex is "considerably cheaper than comparable guided missile-based systems," and cannot be influenced by electronic warfare measures after it is fired, Rheinmetall says.

Although generally slow-moving, drones can be difficult to detect and can cheaply overwhelm air defenses equipped with expensive interceptor missiles when large numbers converge to attack one point.

"Swarming is a very sophisticated method of attacking a specific target," Uzi Rubin, a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security and the Begin Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, previously told Newsweek.

Ukraine's Oleshchuk said on Sunday that Kyiv's air force had destroyed thousands of missiles and drones since February 2022, as well as hundreds of aircraft.

"Ukrainian pilots have flown more than 20,000 combat missions, most of them involving the use of air defense systems," Oleshchuk said. "As far as possible, they destroy enemy air assets, strike the enemy from the air, and maintain defense on the ground."

Separately, on Sunday, Ukraine officially confirmed the arrival and initial use of Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets. These jets are likely to be used primarily for air defense in the coming weeks.

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