I work in an office with drone and anti-drone specialists, so naturally I’m not that surprised.

The effectiveness of Ukrainian air defenses in downing Shahed-type drones has been steadily improving, and with the new interceptors it may soon reach 95% efficiency or even more.

On the other hand, combating smaller Russian drones, especially First Person View (FPV) drones and loitering munitions, is still a major problem.

A Russian FPV drone that crashed near a Ukrainian position. (Picture by the author of this post)

There is still no cheap and effective weapon available that can be mass-produced. Enemy FPVs that are harassing Ukraine’s supply lines are causing considerable disruption.

Another problem is the defense against Russian long and mid-range ballistic missiles. There are not enough anti-air missile systems (Patriot PAC-3 and IRIS-T) available. America’s war against Iran will most probably worsen this already bad situation.

So there are no real surprises here. These were all pretty foreseeable developments. I cannot stress enough how extremely important the supply of anti-air weapon systems, both missile- and cannon-based, is for Ukraine. Without them, the existence of the country may be on the line.