Three shots — three kills in a day: how French Mistral systems protect Ukraine’s sky
Fighters of the 138th Radio-Technical Dnipro Brigade shot down three aerial targets with the French short-range air defense system Mistral within one day.
According to the Air Force, the system fully meets its reputation: simple, reliable, and effective.
A serviceman operating the system said:
“Mistral is for those who dislike unnecessary moves but value absolute precision. Our French partners did not exaggerate. The system works on ‘fire and forget’: lock the target, press launch, and the missile does the rest”.
The biggest challenge now is the Ukrainian winter:
“Operating in extremely low temperatures is not easy, to say the least. But the system itself works flawlessly”.
The crew consists of two servicemen: an operator and an assistant. Despite being portable, Mistral has serious lethality and effectively targets cruise missiles and Shahed-type attack UAVs.
Work begins long before launch — with radio communication and airspace monitoring. When the command “To battle!” comes, the polished algorithm starts: deployment, loading the missile, receiving the radio command, visual detection, waiting for the target to enter the kill zone, heat-signature lock, launch — and the target is destroyed.
“We recently started combat duty, but we are already demonstrating a 100% result. The system destroys everything within its reach. Once an enemy target enters our zone — it’s done. Thanks to our French partners for the weapons. The more such systems and missiles we have, the safer Ukrainian cities will be”, — the defender noted.