Western weapons can save Ukraine from Russian aviation, writes The Telegraph, citing a report prepared by the British military. The US-Norwegian NASAMS air defense systems and German IRIS-T, as well as American F-16 and F-18 fighters could "solve the problem"

The F-16, F-18 and Gripen will offer Ukrainian fighter pilots "much better radar performance and the ability to use much longer-range and more effective Western air-to-air missiles" compared to the Soviet-made Su-27 and MiG-29 , which form the basis of the Ukrainian Air Force.

“At present, they have to fly against modern Russian fighter-interceptors Su-35S, Su-30SM and MiG-31BM, which are technically completely superior to them,” he said.

Since the start of hostilities, Russian fighters have often been able to launch radar-guided air-to-air missiles at Ukrainian fighters from over 100 kilometers away.

The threat from the long-range S-400 Triumph air defense systems in Belarus and Crimea forced Ukrainian aircraft to fly at extremely low altitude (below 30 meters), while the bulk of the sorties fell on the northern and southern directions.

These mobile radar systems entered service in 2018 and allowed Russian forces to track Ukrainian aircraft and helicopters up to five meters high for more than 150 km, although the radar in the south near Nova Kakovkha was later destroyed.

"The latest series of strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure poses a never-before-seen threat, as hundreds of cheap and numerous Iranian-made Shahed-136 loitering munitions are used to hit small targets, and more expensive cruise and ballistic missiles are used for larger targets," Bronk said.

“Thus, Ukraine needs both advanced air defense systems in the format of the US-Norwegian NASAMS and German IRIS-T to protect cities and infrastructure from cruise missiles, as well as a mass of cheap man-portable radar-guided missile systems to destroy drones,” he concluded.