According to the commander of the missile complex “Buk M1”, there have been other cases in the past when the results exceeded expectations. But ‘shooting down’ a military plane without a missile is not a routine thing.
The Buk M1 air defense guided missile can only track one target. Image credit: Armed Forces of Ukraine
This time the scenario is quite unusual. The Ukrainian military destroyed the Russian plane with the help of the anti-aircraft missile system “Buk M1” and they did this without firing a single missile.
The commander who was previously awarded the title Hero of Ukraine, Yaroslav Melnik, spoke about this in an interview with the web portal ArmiyaInform.
“We shot down the plane without firing a single missile. We have detected the target. We turn on the radar lights. At this time, the cockpit emits audio announcements about the radar exposure. He [the pilot] realized that he had turned from a hunter into a target. Presumably, this stunned the pilot so much that he left the plane and it crashed,” Melnik said.
Operator Buk M1 in his place. Image credit: Armed Forces of Ukraine
The defense forces under the leadership of Melnik fought against Russian pilots in the Kharkiv region for more than half a year. They eliminated 28 enemy targets: 11 warplanes of all kinds, two helicopters, two cruise missiles and 13 drones.
“Our batteries have resisted them alone. This means that as soon as we turn on the detection equipment and lock the target, we will immediately become a convenient and visible target for dozens of Russian pilots. As soon as they spot us, they will not hesitate to abort their main flight missions, such as bombarding troops or objects, and will instead immediately focus on destroying the system. our anti-aircraft missiles,” Melnik added.
The Buk M1 system is equipped with new missiles. Image credit: Armed Forces of Ukraine
According to him, the complex can only deal with one enemy target at a time, and they cannot observe if there are other enemy aircraft flying in the same formation. So the crew had very little time to spend on destroying this target.
Officials say there are only seconds in their reserve. And it’s always a thrill to know for a fact that as soon as they activate their device, the whole process becomes a game of who does their job better. For the same reason, immediately after completing the missile launch, the team changed positions to avoid any possible attack with anti-radar missiles.
