To Swat Russian Attack Drones, The Ukrainian Air Force 'Made A Mishmash' Of Soviet Radars, Launchers And Missiles

SA-11 launchers and now detecting targets for older SA-6 launchers

The Ukrainian air force has a bunch of SA-11 launcher-and-radar vehicles—a.k.a. 9K37s—for medium-range 9М38 surface-to-air missiles, but no more actual 9M38 or similar missiles.

At the same time, the air force has a bunch of old SA-6 launcher/radar vehicles—a.k.a. 2K12s—and a sizeable stock of 3M9 missiles for these launchers, but few of the vacuum-tube Straight Flush radars that illuminate targets for the missiles.

So the Ukrainians have combined the two systems, effectively replacing the aging Straight Flush with the newer Snow Drift and Fire Dome radars mounted on every SA-11. “We made a mishmash,” a deputy commander of one of the new hybrid batteries said in an official video.

The result is yet another Ukrainian “FrankenSAM.” A new system combining whatever disparate missiles, launchers and radars are available. The Russians are launching thousands of Shahed attack drones at Ukrainian cities every month; the Ukrainians can’t afford to waste air defense equipment because some missile or launcher is missing its intended radar or vice versa.

The SA-6-SA-11 hybrid isn’t even the first SA-11-based FrankenSAM. With American help, the Ukrainians have modified some SA-11 vehicles to fire surplus American Sea Sparrow missiles.