Ukraine war latest: Russia announces rise in defence spending and says Western fatigue ‘will grow’; Ukraine’s parliament mocks Elon Musk

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A senior Ukrainian official has called for a reassessment of Western anti-aircraft systems being supplied to Ukraine, saying simpler and cheaper weapons could be more cost-efficient in countering Russia’s Iranian-made Shahed drones.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said the issue was not just one of securing more anti-aircraft weapon systems “but primarily solving a mathematical
problem lying in the economics of war”.

While Western systems like NASAMS and Iris-T were used to
down missiles, he said, using them to intercept Shaheds may not
be cost-effective, Mr Podolyak wrote in English on X ,
formerly Twitter.

“Thus, it leads to depletion of allied stockpiles and
long-term weakening,” Mr Podolyak wrote.

“The solution is obvious: in addition to mobile
large-calibre machine guns, there are plenty of simpler and
cheaper anti-aircraft systems available today that have proven
themselves to be effective against Shaheds. These include Gepard
and Vampire.”

The Gepard is an anti-aircraft gun tank made in Germany while the US-made Vampire counter-drone system consists of a
laser-guided missile launcher that can be installed on a truck
bed.

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