(Luhansk) Since Moscow decided to invade the Ukraine, weapons have been flowing into the country. The Uk which was the second to do so (after Lithuania) initially sent over its MBLLAW disposable anti-tank weapon which has won much praise from the Ukrainians, well London followed that up by sending over its Starstreak anti-aircraft weapon which goes about killing its target in a very different (and unusual ) way from other anti-aircraft missiles. Most use a cryogenic seeker which is frozen just before launch and thus becomes sensitive to a heat source usually the engines of the target, that is why we see so many aircraft dumping flares over a battlefield in which to seduce the incoming missile away, some aircraft uses lasers to blind incoming, other missiles use radar and so they are either jammed by electronic countermeasures or by the use of chaff. Starstreak is designed to ignore all such countermeasures and uses a twin laser based optical tracking system, (Semi-automatic command to line of sight (SACLOS)) combined with 3 Mach 4 darts which gives no warning to the target it is being tracked, or the speed to get away.
The first helicopter in the video below is a either a Kamov Ka-50 or Ka 52, which after carrying out an unguided lob attack, undertakes a 180 degree turn and returns in the direction it came from, it is then followd by a Russian Mil 28(Havoc) gunship,
Its Moscow’s more modern version of the Apache gunship and has
only been in service since 2009 it is designed to withstand up to 14.5 mm calibre
rounds, the strike takes off completely the tail. As the missile gives no
warning , a lot of Russian pilots are going to become very uncomfortable over
the Ukraine
Russian Mi-28UB gunship trainer shot down in Ukraine with 🇬🇧 StarStreak next gen MANPADS. Crew survived.pic.twitter.com/bJhaqL5rMZ
— WLVN Analysis🔍 (@TheLegateIN) April 2, 2022
