The international delegation, headed by Ana Lucía Bueno, ICRC Public Health Coordinator, and Sujit Panda, Head of the Physical Rehabilitation…
Oleh, a pilot of an unmanned aerial systems unit of the Sevastopol Tactical Aviation Brigade of Air Command West, together with his comrades, only began combat missions to intercept enemy targets at the end of December and already has an open combat record — his first destroyed Shahed drone.
The soldier’s story was published on January 6 on the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine page.
“We arrived at the position at eleven in the evening and left the next day at five. During that day, the air temperature ranged from minus seven to minus eleven degrees Celsius.
What did we feel while waiting for the target? No anxiety. Only anger. We were angry at the enemy and simply wanted to shoot down the drone, to prevent it from hitting our ground targets. We anticipated a high probability of a Shahed appearing in our engagement zone.
We prepared everything in advance, equipped the interceptor drone with a warhead, and launched it when the Shahed was almost above us. Soon I saw the target through the camera of my interceptor drone.
Then I just did everything I was taught at the training center. On the first attempt, I successfully closed in on the Shahed and destroyed it. There was tremendous joy. This is complex collective work — pilot, navigator, sapper, driver — everyone works for the result”, — Oleh said.
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Intercepting Shaheds is not as easy as it may seem.
“You need to study flight routes and choose the right position. Then comes exhausting waiting — often for hours, in fields, at night, in wind and frost.
When the enemy UAV reaches certain lines, we begin our work. We assemble the drone, the sapper equips it with a warhead.
The interceptor takes off, and the pilot has about 10 minutes for everything. So the correctness of maneuvers and approach to the target means a lot”, — Oleh shared.
According to him, such rapid combat results were achieved thanks to good training.
“We mastered drone operations in training centers and then gained what you could call combat practice. We intercepted enemy reconnaissance drones in the south and east of the country. Now we are shooting down strike drones. I am confident that the statistics of destroyed targets will grow”, — Oleh promised.
The same opinion is shared by Hennadii, the commander of the unmanned systems platoon that includes Oleh’s unit. Hennadii’s record includes two destroyed tanks, four vehicles, numerous dugouts, and enemy personnel.
“Victory loves preparation. I was an FPV drone operator and commanded a platoon in a consolidated rifle brigade of the Air Forces.
There, in the east, we did a lot of work — grinding down enemy assaults, destroying infantry, motorcycles, scooters, vehicles, and even tanks. Now we are hitting the enemy not on the ground, but in the sky. The results are already there — and they will be even better”, — Hennadii noted.
