Colonel displays bravado about capability to fight off Himars, drones

April 9, BPN. Although US multiple rocket launchers Himars have been highly publicized, they are just an “ordinary ballistic target,” Col Dźmitryj Panin, the head of the Air/Air Defense Forces’ anti-aircraft missile forces HQ, told VoyenTV on April 9.

The Himars systems have “their peculiarities,” but the Belarusian military is ready to confront them.

“The built-in training equipment of missile systems and complexes allows our crews to practice their actions regarding these targets. Besides, at the Ashuluk shooting range [in Russia’s Astrakhan region] we have repeatedly performed tasks on targets that simulated the work of Himars. Let’s say, there’s nothing much new for us in this case,” Panin said.

He also claimed that the Armed Forces are capable of countering enemy drone strikes.

Medium-range anti-aircraft missile systems can confidently take down strategic drones, while “operational” drones can be handled by the S-300 and Buk missile systems, Panin said. “The latest Tor-M2 surface-to-air missile system works well on smaller, tactical unmanned aircraft,” he added.

On March 7, explaining sabotage at the Mačuliščy airbase, Minsk district, Alaksandr Łukašenka said air defenses failed to detect the drone with explosives because it was light.

“They chose a small drone. Because if they had used a big one, our tracking systems would have tracked it, of course,” Łukašenka said.

The February 26 drone attack in Mačuliščy damaged the Russian A-50 early warning and control aircraft. The rare and expensive plane was then moved back to Russia for repairs.