The new weapon is “freely hunting” for air targets
The statement by the head of the Russian military department Sergei Shoigu about a new effective complex that made it possible to shoot down 24 Ukrainian Armed Forces aircraft in five days caused a storm of comments in our country and abroad. A very sensitive topic, given that NATO has heavily invested in Ukraine and even promises it F-16 aircraft. So NATO is probably racking its brains over the statistics of downed planes.
And here is what Honored Military Pilot of Russia, ex-commander of the 16th Air Army, Lieutenant General in Reserve Valery Retunsky told MK about this:
— Yes, in recent days such information has been confirmed that our air defense began to shoot down Ukrainian planes at a great distance from the line of combat contact, where, according to all tactical and technical data, our complexes should not reach them. This fact now greatly surprises the command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
— I was told that on one of these days, when four different aircraft were shot down at once, one of the Ukrainian pilots managed to eject. And he allegedly said that the avionics of his MiG-29 before his plane was shot down showed nothing at all that the plane was under enemy gunfire, as usually happens. That is, the on-board automation did not report data either on the irradiation of the aircraft or on the fact that some object was approaching it. Everything happened completely unexpectedly.
Something crashed into his plane, and then the plane began to fall, and he, as the pilots say, was ejected into the parachute straps and bones overboard.
— No. But against this background — although there are no specifics on this score yet — information has appeared that our air defense system has received or is testing some new weapon. It works something like this: it is launched from our territory — and this can be done both from a ground-based complex and from an air carrier — and then it works in independent target search mode.
Simply put, in the “free hunt” mode it rushes around, looking for someone to destroy. Makes a decision based on visual data, that is, the object being destroyed is not irradiated. If there had been such exposure, the aircraft’s on-board equipment would have shown this to the pilot, since this complex operates over a wide range.
— I can’t say. There is no open data on this matter. However, the Ukrainians are trying to solve this riddle: how can it be that their planes are shot down at a distance of 350-400 kilometers from the line of combat contact?
— Anything is possible. Let's not reveal all our cards. Let the enemy guess. However, what Shoigu said about 24 aircraft in 5 days is a result that speaks for itself. I recently met with our former commanders of the air armies and other major military leaders who are now actively monitoring the situation at the front. So, I can say: the topic of “wandering hunters” was also discussed at this meeting. Although for now we can only talk about all this as a version. But, as you understand, we try to test everything new we have in combat conditions. So in this case, no, even the most incredible versions can be denied.