Ukrainian soldier with Stinger missile
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According to Insider , a Ukrainian soldier recently said that Russia has begun to deploy a new tactic by equipping decoy flares on missiles, making it difficult for Ukraine's air defense system to cope.
The soldier, nicknamed Roman, said using his Stinger shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles became more complicated.
"The Russians are now launching missiles that emit decoy flares, like those on airplanes. This has never happened before and is causing problems for the Stinger," the soldier said.
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Stinger missiles use infrared to identify targets, while decoy flares work by tricking tracking systems into aiming at the heat source from the flare instead of the target.
A video surfaced in late December 2023 showing a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile using decoy flares in an attack. Roman said the Russians had only recently started using the tactic, with Ukrainian soldiers first hearing about it about a month ago.
The soldier, who was part of an air defense unit that helped defend Ukraine's capital Kyiv against a massive airstrike on January 2, discovered Russia's new tactic.
He said his team shot down two Russian cruise missiles during that attack using a US-supplied mobile system and ZU-23 anti-aircraft guns. However, he admitted that intercepting the missiles was difficult.
Commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Sergiy Naev said that Ukraine's mobile air defense groups "have enough ammunition to withstand several further powerful attacks."
Ukraine's priority, he said, is to get more ammunition because Russia "really wants to weaken our air defense system."
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