The Ministry of Defense spoke about the successes of private air defense
A pilot project for private air defense has been launched in Ukraine. According to the Ministry of Defense, 27 companies have already joined the initiative. Two of them, operating in two different regions, are carrying out combat missions and have already destroyed about 20 Russian “Shahed”-type drones.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced this during a meeting with journalists.
"Currently, 27 companies of various ownership structures from many parts of Ukraine have joined the pilot project. There are no geographical restrictions on the project. Specifically, these include the Kharkiv, Odesa, Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Poltava, Zakarpattia, and other regions," Fedorov said.
According to him, the Ministry of Defense has granted them the status of entities authorized to perform air defense tasks.
They then reached a joint decision with the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and began organizing their own air defense groups.
Currently, these enterprises are at various stages of readiness to carry out combat missions. Specifically, this includes training group members, procuring weapons (drone interceptors, electronic warfare systems, radars, automated turrets, etc.), and receiving weapons from Armed Forces of Ukraine warehouses (machine guns, explosives).
The minister noted that the total number of companies applying to participate in the pilot project is growing every week. There is significant business interest in this project, which provides an additional opportunity to protect personnel and production facilities.
"Today, we can say that the air defense groups of two companies have begun to fully carry out combat missions in close coordination with the Air Force’s air command," Fedorov said.
These are units in the Kharkiv and Odesa regions, which have already destroyed about 20 enemy Shaheds and reconnaissance drones.
There is also a confirmed military shootdown of a Shahed jet in the Kharkiv region.
In the near future, several more air defense units from these enterprises will go on combat duty.
At the same time, the Defense Minister noted that the use of any weapons by industrial air defense groups is subject to mandatory approval by the Air Force Command.
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As a reminder, Ukraine has significantly increased the effectiveness of its air defense and is currently shooting down about 90% of enemy drones and nearly 80% of cruise missiles.
Over the past four months, Ukraine has significantly increased the effectiveness of shooting down Russian Shahed-type drones. According to Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, the interception rate of enemy drones has doubled thanks to the development of a “small-scale” air defense system and the expanded use of interceptor drones.
