The first official photos have appeared showing a Soviet-era ground-based air defense system upgraded with Western surface-to-air missiles — a so-called ‘FrankenSAM.’ The images, published by Ukraine’s Operational Command East, show a tracked self-propelled Buk-M1 system — known in the West as SA-11 Gadfly — which is said to have been adapted to fire the […]
While Ukraine’s “FrankenSAM” air defense systems are not capable of long-range air defense, they are sufficient for safeguarding infrastructure and military facilities, Ukrainian Air Forces spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said on national television on Jan. 19. The hybrid “FrankenSAMs” combine modern Western missiles with modernized launchers or Soviet-era radars. Read also: Ukraine developing new domestically-produced air […]