{"id":78642,"date":"2023-03-29T14:30:13","date_gmt":"2023-03-29T03:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=78642"},"modified":"2023-03-29T14:19:10","modified_gmt":"2023-03-29T03:19:10","slug":"ukraines-air-defences-are-crucial-and-israel-can-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/ukraines-air-defences-are-crucial-and-israel-can-help\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine\u2019s air defences are crucial, and Israel can help"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

In his address to the UK House of Commons<\/a> last month, Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelensky declared: \u2018We built a coalition of air defence, which allows us to save the lives of our children, of our people, of our civilians, our women, our elderly, and our cities from atrocious Russian occupation and missile terror.\u2019<\/p>\n

As Russia has stepped up its missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian population centres, much attention has focused on the role of missile-defence systems. Anti-missile shields are designed to undermine an adversary\u2019s confidence by heightening uncertainty and degrading its missile capabilities while strengthening the morale of those attacked. Their effectiveness is studied closely by military establishments including in Israel, which has contended with regular rocket and missile attacks for decades.<\/p>\n

In the early months of Russia\u2019s invasion, Ukraine\u2019s population and infrastructure were exposed and vulnerable to missile attacks. Between February and May, Moscow fired more than 2,000 cruise and ballistic\u00a0 missiles in an attempt to destroy Ukrainian air defences<\/a>.\u00a0During March and April, Ukrainian defenders intercepted 20\u201330%<\/a> of them.<\/p>\n

Russia began targeting sites such as government buildings and telecommunications infrastructure in an attempt to damage resistance and morale.\u00a0By June, targets included critical energy facilities and railway lines. Ukrainian air defences were reorganised and redeployed to protect cities and important infrastructure, and interception rates reaches 50\u201360%<\/a>. Ukraine\u2019s S-300<\/a> systems have been effective against Russian cruise missiles, particularly when they received early warning of launches.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s growing ability to intercept missiles was a factor in Moscow turning to Iran for large numbers of Shahed-131 and Shahed-136 uncrewed aerial vehicles, which have become an integral part of Russia\u2019s missile war. They have been used alongside cruise missiles, targeting critical infrastructure in key cities. The UAVs are small, have pinpoint precision and are very effective. They fly low, which creates problems for air defences. By the time they\u2019re detected, it\u2019s often too late to shoot them down.<\/p>\n

Yet Ukraine now claims to have intercepted close to 90% of them, reflecting the growing effectiveness<\/a> of its defences. While Ukraine is exhausting its ammunition supplies at an alarming rate, Russia\u2019s stock of Iranian drones is also diminishing because it uses vast swarms <\/a>to penetrate Ukrainian air defences. Moscow is being forced to ramp up its own arms production at great cost<\/a> to its economy.<\/p>\n

According to Mykhailo Samus, a military expert in Kyiv, Moscow can\u2019t afford to exhaust its missiles because of the adverse implications for its forces. As Ukraine receives more support for its air and missile defences, Russia\u2019s stocks will be degraded. To sustain the war<\/a>, Russia is likely to shift the costs of replacing degraded stocks to its population and businesses.<\/p>\n

Uzi Rubin, a leading Israeli missile expert, says air and missile defences can\u2019t provide hermetic protection anywhere. While Ukraine has intercepted many missiles, Rubin maintains that it\u2019s a quantity game and one battery does nothing. \u2018If you manage to shoot down nine out of 10 missiles, then the damage and casualties are limited. This gives Ukraine the staying power to keep fighting. Defence matters.\u2019<\/p>\n

The US announced in December that Ukraine would receive a Patriot<\/a> system, one of the world’s most advanced long-range air-defence systems, which can intercept cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and aircraft with great accuracy. Germany and the Netherlands have also offered<\/a> to send Patriots. France and Italy will supply Ukraine with the SAMP\/T<\/a> air-defence system, which is unique as a European system that can intercept ballistic missiles. Samus says these additions will significantly improve Ukraine\u2019s defences. These developments are crucial for Ukraine to resist Russia\u2019s onslaught, but US officials say there\u2019s \u2018no silver bullet<\/a>\u2018 and their goal is to help Ukraine \u2018strengthen a layered, integrated approach to air defence\u2019.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s capabilities have dramatically improved and Western air-defence systems such as NASAMS and IRIS-T have bolstered its ability to intercept missile barrages. The Patriots are intended to strengthen Ukrainian fortitude in the face of this onslaught and the multi-layered approach mirrors that of Israel in confronting the threat posed by Iran and Hezbollah.<\/p>\n

Israel is under growing pressure to supply missile defences to Ukraine but has refrained from doing so for fear of angering Russia<\/a>, which could constrain its freedom of action in striking Iran\u2019s forces in Syria. The US has made its annoyance over Israel\u2019s position clear. However, it will be increasingly difficult for Israel to sit on the fence given Russia\u2019s ever closer military cooperation with<\/a> Iran.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s foreign minister, Eli Cohen, visited Ukraine in February and told Zelensky that Israel would supply Ukraine with an aerial threat early warning system<\/a>. More recently, Israeli and Ukrainian officials announced<\/a> that Israel has approved export licences for anti-drone systems for Ukraine.\u00a0This will allow Israel to assess how effective its systems are against Iran\u2019s drones.\u00a0Zelensky told Cohen that Iran is a \u2018common enemy\u2019. Samus maintains that every bit of support Ukraine receives is significant and hopes that this will presage Israel\u2019s delivery of the David\u2019s Sling<\/a> or Arrow 3<\/a> system.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no room for complacency about Russia\u2019s missile threat. The Conflict Armament Research<\/a> group says that while Russia has likely used a significant portion of its stockpile, the production of guided cruise missiles such as the Kh-101<\/a> and the stockpiling of critical electronic components<\/a> have continued in spite of Western sanctions.<\/p>\n

Critically, the US has long viewed missile defences as a means to strengthen the morale of allies exposed to missile attack, including Israel. The White House\u2019s 2022 missile defence review<\/a> says that \u2018missile defence capabilities add resilience and undermine adversary confidence in missile use by introducing doubt and uncertainty into strike planning and execution\u2019. The supply of Patriot missiles reassures the Ukrainian people, cements Washington\u2019s political commitment<\/a> to their defence and strengthens their resolve. As Samus points out: \u2018Missile defence is a part of resilience. For Ukrainians, even electricity depends on missile defence. Protecting houses depends on missile defence.\u2019<\/p>\n

Israel knows from its own experience of missile warfare how essential air defences are to sustain fortitude and resilience. Yet it\u2019s likely that Iran\u2019s close support for Russia, rather than US pressure, will shift Israel\u2019s calculus on military support for Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his address to the UK House of Commons last month, Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelensky declared: \u2018We built a coalition of air defence, which allows us to save the lives of our children, of our …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1299,"featured_media":78646,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[240,268,1202,163,714],"class_list":["post-78642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-israel","tag-missile","tag-missile-defence","tag-russia","tag-ukraine","dinkus-russia-ukraine-war"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUkraine\u2019s air defences are crucial, and Israel can help | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/ukraines-air-defences-are-crucial-and-israel-can-help\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ukraine\u2019s air defences are crucial, and Israel can help | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In his address to the UK House of Commons last month, Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelensky declared: \u2018We built a coalition of air defence, which allows us to save the lives of our children, of our ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/ukraines-air-defences-are-crucial-and-israel-can-help\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-29T03:30:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-29T03:19:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/GettyImages-1432474929.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Azriel Bermant\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Azriel Bermant\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/ukraines-air-defences-are-crucial-and-israel-can-help\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/GettyImages-1432474929.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/GettyImages-1432474929.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":683,\"caption\":\"KYIV, UKRAINE - OCTOBER 10: Firefighters work to put out a fire at CHP power station hit by Russian missile on October 10, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine. 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