US Colonel Rosanna Clemente, assistant chief of staff of the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, stated that Ukraine’s Patriot systems are being utilized in various roles, with some protecting static sites while others are highly mobile and are used as a “SAMbush,” NewsWeek reported.
“They’re doing that with extremely mobile Patriot systems that were donated by the Germans, because the systems are all mounted on the trucks,” she revealed at the Fires Symposium event last month, adding that Ukraine used this tactic “to engage the first A-50 C2 [command and control] system back in January.”
As the A-50 aircraft was monitoring situation in the area, Ukrainian anti-air teams employed the mobile ‘SAMbush’ tactic, which involves rapidly deploying near the front and targeting enemy aircraft, to take it down.
https://twitter.com/AirPowerNEW1/status/1799830592902795371/
Clemente highlighted the historic nature of this strike, stating, “I haven’t seen [anything like this] in 22 years of being an air defender.“
The downing of the A-50 marked the first time Ukraine has successfully engaged such a valuable Russian command and control asset with the advanced Patriot system.
https://twitter.com/AirPowerNEW1/status/1799841080084742508/
A month later, Ukraine destroyed the second Russian A-50 radar plane, reportedly using a modified antiquated S-200 SAM system.
Read also:
- “Week-long ambush” preceded historic Russian Tu-22 bomber downing, Ukraine intel chief says, confirming S-200 use
- Ukrainians might have hit Russia’s third A-50 radar plane, but ISW can’t confirm it yet
- Ukraine Air Force: Russian colonel, junior officers were on board of destroyed A-50 AWACS plane
- UK intel: Russia likely grounds A-50 fleet following loss of second aircraft in Ukraine
- UK intel: Two A-50 AWACS aircraft downed in two months show Russia’s difficulty securing air assets
- Ukrainian Intel: downed Russian A-50 radar plane cost $ 350 million
- Ukraine downs another Russian A-50 radar plane
- UK: New Russian A-50 radar plane kept distant from Ukraine after previous one downed
- Russia reportedly loses valuable AWACS A-50 aircraft over Azov Sea (updates)
- Belarusian partisans conducted aerial reconnaissance for 2 weeks before drone attack that damaged Russian A-50 aircraft
