Ukraine-Russia War: STARstreak Missile Shoots Down Russian Mi28n Attack Helicopter

The UK-supplied STARStreak Portable Air Defense System [MANNPADS] was employed for the first time and successfully shot down a Russian helicopter.

It is believed that STARStreak MANPADS were used in the downing of the Russian Mi-28N attack helicopter, according to a special report in the British newspaper The Times, which was widely circulated on social media yesterday. Ukrainian soldiers shot down a Russian helicopter in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine.

The system utilised in the video, according to a source at the British Ministry of Defense, is called STARStreak. The system was transported to Ukraine, as we revealed last month. STARStreak is the system employed in the video, according to military industry sources.

In addition to the NLAW anti-tank guns, the STARStreak system was supplied to Ukraine. The system is readily shot from the shoulder and has a range of approximately 7 kilometres.

The greatest STARStreak operators from the United Kingdom were dispatched.

The operator of the STARStreak must have prior familiarity with the weapon. In reality, to obtain the status of a “useable” weapon in STARStreak training, a soldier must fire 1,000 successful shots in the simulator.

In response to this demand, the British Ministry of Defense discreetly transported the country’s best STARStreak operators and simulators to Ukraine’s neighbour. The Ukrainian army were trained here by British personnel. The training was supposed to take 2-3 weeks, but it’s projected to take only 1-2 weeks.

The system, developed by Thales Air Defense, is also recognised as the world’s quickest short-range surface-to-air missile. “It’s truly a game-changer in Ukrainian capability, as its range is significantly higher,” a British defence industry source says of the system. It’s quite lethal, and you can take out anything from a MiG fighter jet to attack helicopters with it. And you can do it with a high degree of precision.”

STARStreak MANPADS

Starstreak is a short-range man-portable air-defense system [MANPADS] developed by Thales Air Defense in the United Kingdom. The method has been in use in various nations since 1997, including the United Kingdom, South Africa, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

The system’s missiles are known as “darts,” and they consist of three explosive submunitions. After using the electro-optical instrument to target the target, the soldier fires a shot that triggers three steps of operation. The first stage powers an engine that launches the rocket from the launch tube, bringing the rocket’s mission to a close. The second stage involves the activation of a booster, which permits the rocket to achieve Mach 4 speeds. When the second stage is completed, the third stage is triggered, releasing three dart sub-munitions.

The darts do not collide with laser energy reflected from the target; instead, the targeting unit fires two laser beams at the target, creating a two-dimensional matrix. The lasers are modulated, and the sub-sensor ammunition’s can determine the dart’s location inside the matrix by analysing these modulations. The dart is then directed to stay in the matrix’s centre.

The submunitions steer by using a clutch to decelerate the revolving fore-body. The missile is subsequently guided in the right direction by the front wings. The three submunitions fly in a 1.5-meter-radius configuration and have enough kinetic energy to manoeuvre to meet a 9-g target at 7,000 metres.