Anti-aircraft gunners of the Vostok group of forces effectively use crews of Igla man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems (MANPADS) in the South Donetsk direction in the special operation zone: in a month, Russian fighters manage to destroy at least one Ukrainian helicopter. Footage of the crew's combat work on March 6 is shown by the Russian Ministry of Defense.
One of the main tasks of anti-aircraft gunners is the fight against unmanned aerial vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). After the operator captures an air target, the MANPADS homing missile takes off automatically and is guaranteed to hit it in the air
“Its working distance is 5 km. It can be difficult to get in because of heat traps, but we try to work efficiently, competently, and gain combat experience here. We destroy at least one or two helicopters in a month. The main thing is to wait until the enemy’s vehicle releases heat traps so that the missile fired in its direction does not go astray and hits the target,” said an anti-aircraft gunner with the call sign Sochi.
The Igla MANPADS is capable of hitting air targets at ranges from 500 to 5000 m and altitudes up to 3500 m. Precise guidance of the missile to the target is carried out thanks to an optical homing head, which detects heat from the operating engine of an airborne object. Hundreds of different UAVs of Ukrainian troops have been shot down by crews.
Earlier, on February 29, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that aviation and artillery destroyed the S-300 radar, an ammunition depot, a storage facility for fuel and lubricants, and a warehouse for storing and manufacturing drones.
On the same day, the coordinator of the pro-Russian Nikolaev underground, Sergei Lebedev, reported that the Russian Armed Forces, with strikes from February 23 to 25, destroyed a parking lot of Ukrainian HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) made in the United States and a workshop for assembling drones for the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Nikolaev region.
The special operation to protect Donbass, the beginning of which was announced by the Russian President on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was made against the backdrop of an aggravation of the situation in the region due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.
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