Ukraine’s elite “Alpha” unit destroyed or disabled Russian air defense systems that were worth a total of around $4 billion over the past year, the country’s security service said.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on Monday that its “Alpha” special forces unit conducted long-range strikes on Russian air defense and radar systems. The unit heavily relies on long-range drones in its attacks.
It said the strikes managed to break open corridors in Russia’s multilayered air defenses and created safe passages to allow Ukraine’s long-range drones to punch deep behind enemy lines.
Those deep-strike assets struck targets like military bases, warehouses, and airfields, the SBU said. Ukraine has reported a slew of such strikes, which are key in preventing a big Russian force buildup and hindering operations.
The SBU listed off the types of air defense systems it said Alpha attacks destroyed or damaged: S-300s and S-400s, BUK M-1s and M-2s, Pantsir S-1s and S-2s, and Tor-M1s, M2s, and M3s. These systems range from older, Soviet-era models to some of Russia’s most advanced systems.
Many of these systems come with large price tags, though the cost of the losses is often the estimated current cost of replacement. Russia’s defense industrial base faces strains from sanctions and other pressures.
The Ukrainian security service said the Russians also suffered losses of radar reconnaissance and guidance equipment, including radar stations and radars. Examples listed by the SBU included the Nebo-U radar and the Gamma-D.
The Alpha group is an elite unit that is considered among the best of Ukraine’s special forces. It frequently carries out long-range drone attacks on Russian targets, including on aircraft, ammunition depots, and oil operations in Russia.
In November, the SBU said that its “Alpha” special forces had killed more than 1,500 Russian soldiers and destroyed dozens of tanks, armored combat vehicles, multiple rocket launchers, and air defense systems over the previous month.
Why air defenses matter in this war
Air defense systems have been an integral part of this conflict, fundamentally shaping how it has been fought. Russia and Ukraine, at the start of the full-scale war in February 2022, possessed the largest and second-largest air defense arsenals in Europe, respectively, and their proliferation has heavily restricted front-line air operations. Neither side has been able to secure permanent control of the skies.
A lack of air cover hamstrung large-scale breakthrough efforts, blunting the effectiveness of weaponry like tanks and contributing to the war’s transformation into a slow, grinding fight, one where drones dominate and further prevent maneuver.
Ukraine has reported the destruction of a slew of Russian air defense weapons throughout the war, including advanced S-400s and a host of defenses on the strategic Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed illegally in 2014. Crippling these has been a priority.
The war in Ukraine has raised alarms in much of Europe and NATO about the lack of ground-based air defenses. Investment in them slowed after the Cold War. The alliance has pledged a huge investment in them, but it’s the kind of ramp-up that takes time. Western manufacturers already have big backlogs amid the increased demand.
Air defense is vital for combating not just crewed and uncrewed aircraft, but also missiles, and there is a substantial global demand for proven capabilities. US defense giant Lockheed Martin recently announced a deal with the Pentagon to dramatically boost production of Patriot interceptors.
Ukraine has received air defense systems from partner nations over the course of the war, from advanced US-made Patriots to improvised “FrankenSAMs” that mix Soviet launchers with Western missiles. Ukraine is building its own air defense systems to reduce dependency on partners.
Ukraine says it needs more air defenses and far more interceptors. Russia regularly hammers the country with massive missile and drone barrages targeting both military and civilian infrastructure.
Though Ukraine appears to be inflicting damage, Russia’s air defense arsenal is still a threat.
Justin Bronk, an airpower expert at the Royal United Services Institute, warned in a report this month that despite Russia’s ground-based integrated air defence systems suffering attrition from Ukraine, Russia still has several hundred batteries of different surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems in service.
Furthermore, he said, they have also become “significantly more effective” at shooting down Ukrainian air assets as Russia learns throughout the war.
And beyond Ukraine, he warned that Russia’s ground-based air defenses remain “a highly potent threat to NATO air capabilities in a European context.”
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