Our helicopters shoot down up to 40% of drones in their areas – Syrskyi

Ukrainian combat helicopters sometimes shoot down up to 40% of enemy drones depending on the weather in certain areas. This was announced by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi during a conversation with journalists, the correspondent reports LIGA.net.

According to the Commander-in-Chief, Ukraine is increasing the number of combat helicopters, which are also highly effective in the fight against drones.

"That is why we are also scaling up this area. These helicopters need to be equipped with special systems that allow us to see the enemy – day, night, in different weather conditions, in thermal and infrared modes," said Syrsky.

He also noted that among the areas of fighting enemy drones, they are practicing light aircraft with machine guns and are currently considering the purchase of specialized light aircraft for these tasks.

According to him, the electronic warfare capabilities are being strengthened in parallel.

"Our task is to ensure three- or fourfold overlap of objects (with electronic warfare). We are using everything we have to increase our radar field, integrating everything into a single system," said Syrsky.

He also said that the Armed Forces have automated control systems in place and are creating interception lines.

"Drones start being intercepted at the first line as soon as they cross the combat line," the Commander-in-Chief noted.

• In June, Armed Forces chief Syrskyi said that the main problem for the effective use of interceptor drones was the extremely small number of radars in the Air Force's inventory: "We have only a few, but we need hundreds".
• In September, President Zelensky said that to counter 800 Russian "shaheds" 1600 interceptors are required.