British ASRAAM air defense system is seen for the first time in Ukraine (video)
The day before, the OSINTtechnical X-account published a video showing the combat operation of the British ASRAAM SAM. Despite the fact that the video was filmed at night, The War Zone journalists assumed that it showed the launch of AIM-132 missiles.
Initially, the AIM-132 was designed as an air-launched missile. A video posted on social media shows that the maneuverability of the AIM-132 was not affected by the transfer to a ground platform. The system reacted to the target quite quickly.
In Southern Ukraine, a UK-supplied AIM-132 ASRAAM SAM system in Ukrainian service downs a Russian Shahed-131/136. pic.twitter.com/pXz38tMZaq
– OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) October 4, 2023
In the comments to the post, there are reports that the ASRAAM system is firing at Shahed-136. It is not known whether this is true. The only conclusion that can be drawn after watching the recording is that the missile was fired at a low-flying target at a short range.
In the video, you can see the second missile that eventually hit the target. The launch of duplicate missiles is typical for many SAMs. This approach increases the chances of interception. The flight speed of the AIM-132 is Mach 3. When launched from an airplane, it can fly 25 km. Launching from a ground-based platform reduces the target’s range to 10 km.
