Fighters of the Center group of forces shot down a reconnaissance drone of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Soldiers of the Center group of forces using the Strela-10 anti-aircraft missile system hit and destroyed the Lelek drone of the Armed Forces Ukraine (APU). This made it possible to provide cover for the ground group of troops in the Red Army area of the special military operation zone, the press service of the Ministry of Defense reported on March 4.

"During the airspace control measures, the military personnel of the observation post discovered an enemy reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle of an airplane type. After determining the direction and azimuth of the flying drone, the data was transferred to the calculation of the Strela-10 air defense system. The military personnel put the complex on alert, brought it to the firing line and, after capturing the target, launched a missile, destroying the enemy Leleka aerial reconnaissance aircraft.

Due to the high intensity of the enemy UAVs, Russian anti-aircraft gunners are constantly forced to change their location and firing positions in order not to linger in one place and prevent the APU from detecting positions.

"The crew loaded into the car, drove out, accepted the installations, oriented the gun, aimed and worked out. <...> Over time, everything gets better — experience, skills, speed. You're aiming faster. The faster they worked out, the better, respectively," said Vladimir Kostarev, the commander of the vehicle.

With a long-range view: how "small air defense" installations are created in the SVO zone

The new weapons are machine guns or submachine guns mounted on special turrets.

On March 3, units of the Zapad group of forces уничтожили Starlink satellite communication station and 24 control points for unmanned aerial vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Air defense crews also destroyed 10 aircraft-type drones.