Ukraine debuts hybrid air defense system to down drones

Amid the Russian drone attack on the night of January 17, the Ukrainian air defense deployed the FrankenSAM system for the first time to down aerial threats.

Soldiers successfully intercepted a combat drone from a distance of nine kilometers, the Minister of Strategic Industries, Oleksandr Kamyshyn, said during a briefing in Davos, Rubryka reports.

FrankenSAM is a Ukrainian self-made hybrid air defense system. "We have around five such projects in our portfolio, and I am very pleased that we have already deployed all these systems on the battlefield," said Minister Kamyshyn.

What we know about FrankenSAM systems

Ukraine and the United States created "hybrid" air defense systems called the FrankenSAM, capable of launching modern Western-caliber anti-aircraft missiles from upgraded Soviet launchers. 

At that time, Ukraine sought assistance from Western allies to find missiles for about 60 Soviet-made Buk air defense complexes and radars that were in Kyiv's arsenal, as the missiles for Buk-M1 and S-300 systems are produced only by Russia.

According to NYT, Ukraine received two types of "hybrid" air defense systems: Buk launchers, Sea Sparrow missiles, Soviet radars, and AIM-9M Sidewinder missiles.

In early December, Ukraine received a technical data package from the United States to begin local production of some FrankenSAM projects.