A layered missile defense system has been created on the island
A lot of nighttime videos of the operation of the Crimean air defense system in the Kerch and Sevastopol regions, filmed by local residents on Friday night, have appeared on the Web. What it was like and how our air defense forces are working on the peninsula now, “MK” was told by a military expert, ex-head of the anti-aircraft missile forces of the Special Forces Command (Moscow Air Defense District), retired colonel Sergei Khatylev.
Photo: Frame from video
There is practically no doubt among specialists that once again the Crimean bridge has become the object of “interest” of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Like a thorn in the eye, he really haunts the Kyiv authorities. Whatever they did to try, if not to destroy it – it is definitely beyond their power – then at least to damage it, thereby achieving a loud propaganda effect. But no, it doesn't. And on Friday night, it failed again.
As the adviser to the head of the Crimea, Oleg Kryuchkov, said in Telegram, traffic on the Crimean bridge connecting the peninsula with the Krasnodar Territory is carried out as usual.
However, it is clear that in the near future the Russian air defense in the Crimea will have to work in a mode of high combat readiness. According to local residents, on Thursday evening air gaps were also heard in the area of the Belbek airfield near Sevastopol, where, apparently, air defense systems were also working on targets.
Such activity of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is not accidental. The other day, the American publication Politico, citing a high-ranking representative of the presidential administration, reported that the White House gave the go-ahead to the use of US weapons supplied to Kyiv to strike targets in Crimea. The logic is this: they say that Crimea is the territory of Ukraine (according to the United States), and therefore any target chosen by the Armed Forces of Ukraine for shelling there, by definition, should be considered self-defense.
On August 24, Kyiv is preparing to pompously celebrate the next “Independence Day”, and it needs a “win” at all costs. If not military, in the Donbass, then at least informational – in the Crimea. But every time it is torn down by Russian air defense forces.
– Indeed, – Colonel Khatylev confirms, – the measures taken to strengthen the air defense on the peninsula, both physical and tactical, have led to a serious increase in combat readiness. An example of this is recent events, when drones – and it has already been definitely established that they were Ukrainian devices – were shot down at extremely low altitudes and with great efficiency. They carried strike weapons and were stuffed with explosives.
– Both the civilian leadership of Crimea and the military themselves confirmed the high efficiency of the air defense. And if the Armed Forces of Ukraine start using American multiple rocket launchers, what will happen to the effectiveness then?
– The measures taken by the command of the Aerospace Forces for the defense of the Crimea are quite enough today to repel any threat from the air, including the American MLRS HIMARS.
– Even if the Americans supply them with missiles with a range of up to 300 km? There is evidence that they have already arrived in Ukraine.
– In Crimea, there are enough air defense forces and means to cope with the threat of American, French, British and any other weapons. What exactly is being done for this in terms of defense strategy and tactics, I will not disclose. Both the command of the Aerospace Forces and local commanders are working on this.
I will say one thing: what I have said many times before has been done in Crimea, proving that in order to successfully repel the threat from the air, it is necessary to link all the various types of and heterogeneous forces and means of air defense. It's done on the peninsula. The capabilities of the air defense, air force, army corps, and navy divisions have been combined. All of them work under a single management, have modern communications, a warning system and a single automated control system. All this in general just gives the high efficiency that the Crimean air defense has now.