Ukraine Almost Ran Out of F-16 Missiles Used to Shoot Down Jet Drones

Ukraine has almost exhausted its supply of US-made AIM-120 and AIM-9 missiles for F-16 fighters, which are used to intercept Russian cruise missiles and new jet drones, writes "Ukrayinska Pravda" with reference to The Economist.

Ukrainian air defense lacks missiles to shoot down new Russian Geran-4 and Geran-5 UAVs, which fly at speeds up to 600 km/h, and Russia's production rate for them reaches about 3000 units per month.

Their turbojet engines mainly come from China, but some components are manufactured directly in the Russian Federation using smuggled Western 3D printers. Along with larger "Banderol" drones, these UAVs increasingly resemble inexpensive cruise missiles, for the destruction of which F-16 fighters critically lack AIM-120 and AIM-9 missiles.

Ukraine is developing its own interceptor drones to counter Russian UAVs, but the situation with ballistic missile defense is even more complex.

Currently, Ukrainian stocks of PAC-3 missiles for Patriot systems are almost exhausted. New large-scale deliveries from the USA are unlikely due to the depletion of American warehouses as a result of the war with Iran.

At the same time, Russia has increased the production of ballistic missiles to approximately 100 units per month: 60 Iskander-M missiles and 40 RM-48U missiles.

Certain expectations are linked to the future transfer to Ukraine of several older Franco-Italian SAMP/T air defense batteries along with Aster missiles by the end of 2026. Next year, Ukraine is expected to receive eight of the newest SAMP/T NG complexes.

"Unlike the PAC-3, which uses kinetic intercept (direct hit), the Aster missile is equipped with a warhead that detonates near the enemy missile. However, sources in the French army claim that in some aspects it surpasses the Patriot. Its cost is also less than half of the 7 million dollars — the price of the latest export version of PAC-3," writes The Economist.

Under license, Germany plans to produce up to 200 less powerful PAC-2 missiles per year, some of which may be supplied to Ukraine with the consent of NATO countries.

The joint European-Ukrainian Freyja project, whose scale is compared to the "moon landing" program, is intended to fundamentally change the situation. Its goal is to provide Ukraine and its European allies with a much cheaper and more massive alternative to PAC-3 missiles, which will operate with NATO-standard radars and data transmission systems.

The planned interceptor is based on the Ukrainian FP-7 short-range ballistic missile. Sensors, guidance, and control systems will be supplied by 12 European defense companies, including French Thales, Italian Leonardo, German Diehl, and Swedish Saab.

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