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Comment by timcobb | Hacker News Reader

You can't really take out "the whole" air defense system because there will always be folks out with MANPAD-type things, those will score hits on occasion. That's probably what we saw here. I doubt MANPADs were nearly as common in the early 90s as they are today.

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The videos we've seen match up with what we've seen on the ground. They are all running a custom software we haven't seen elsewhere and don't seem to be traditional MANPADS in any way.

We know Iran is driving around bongo trucks with small SAM systems on the back that use passive IRST rather than radar. The missiles themselves have the capability to cruise in the air for some period of time searching for a target before kicking in the engine for a last, fast sprint to the target. Because they are electro-optical (and piloted by a human), even early-warning and flare deployments won't do very much against a skilled operator.

Interesting, thank you! I haven't see this.

> custom software

Are you referring to screen recordings they've released?

True but without radar they have a relatively difficult task of being out there setup and waiting for a fast moving jet to pass within range.

Compare that to Ukraine defending it's skies with NATO (well mostly French IIRC) AWACS feeding early data which is what made MANPADS in Ukraine so effective against Russian attacks.

Yeah my guess was they were coming in along predictable routes at this point and that's what got them? I saw that the search and rescue mission was in an area close to water. I believe many Stinger hits in Ukraine can be attributed to predictability.

And maybe they do have some kind of radars?

I don't think manpads themselves are connected to the AWACS infrastructure.

It's more that high altitude planes get picked up by the AWACS while low flight is at risk of being shot at by a MANPAD.

There have been no legitimate reports of NATO providing real time AWACs feeds to Ukraine.

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