Am 1581. Tag der groß angelegten Invasion ist die Sonne über Kiew untergegangen. Feindliche Shahed-Drohnen entwickeln sich weiter. Einheiten, die ihnen entgegenwirken, müssen modernisiert werden.

The Russians are upgrading the Shahed drone, adding new navigational systems, secure communications, and changing its construction design and warhead. Meanwhile, Ukrainian mobile fire groups, the main line of defense against drones, remain at virtually the same technological level as when they were created in late 2022. Heavy machine guns are still the main weaponry of most groups, with the American Browning M2 equipped with thermal imaging optics considered the most effective. As for high-speed targets, such as missiles or jet-propelled Shaheds, defenders use Igla or Stinger MANPADS.

However, the usual methods of mobile fire teams are losing their effectiveness. The enemy is adapting: drones are increasingly flying at altitudes of over 2 kilometers. Machine guns are powerless at such distances, rendering soldiers able to only observe the targets in the sky.

“We have a slogan: ‘Shoot down everything that flies.’ So we work whenever we can, although lately, as soon as they reach our positions, they gain altitude. That’s why we are mobile and constantly changing our positions. However, even if we fail to hit the target, we can provide precise information that no radar can provide, because very often we receive a warning when we already hear it and understand the direction of the attack“, says the commanding officer of the mobile fire group Serhii, call sign “Usach.”

Still, the information reported from mobile fire group positions has limited practical use. Once a drone can be heard overhead, it is either already inside the strike zone or will exit it within seconds. Such a sequence of operation is more like recording of the path of flight than being a full-fledged element of interception systems.

According to the expert, the problem cannot be solved by simply increasing the number of pickup trucks monitoring the sky. He says that mobile fire groups should be equipped with compact radars or small radar stations weighing roughly 30 kg. Such equipment transmits the coordinates, speed, and altitude of the target in real time and it can be installed on MFG vehicles.

See more photos and read complete article here: 

[**https://frontliner.ua/en/the-fight-against-shaheds-why-mobile-fire-groups-need-to-be-modernized/**](https://frontliner.ua/en/the-fight-against-shaheds-why-mobile-fire-groups-need-to-be-modernized/)

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