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Ukraine is swatting down Russia's seemingly inexhaustible waves of Shahed drones using British-supplied laser-guided Martlet missiles, according to a new report.
Ukraine used London-supplied Martlets to battle against large-scale Russian Shahed kamikaze drone strikes against the capital, Kyiv, in late November, Britain's The Times reported on Monday.
Martlet missiles operated by Ukraine have destroyed a total of 213 strike drones—not just Shaheds, but Russia's Lancet and Orlan drones, too, a Ukrainian commander in the Kyiv area told the publication.
Air defense has been a priority for Kyiv throughout the 21-month-old conflict, increasingly so as Russia hammers the war-torn country with missile and drone strikes aimed at crippling Ukraine's energy infrastructure and logistics.
Back in mid-April 2022, media reports suggested the U.K. had covertly provided Martlet missiles and that one was used by Ukraine's 95th Airborne Assault Brigade to destroy an inbound Russian reconnaissance drone.
A senior defense source told The Times at the time that the Martlets, also known as LLM, or lightweight multirole missiles, were sent to Ukraine as part of a tranche of air defense aid. It was delivered along with its sister missile, the Starstreak, and it had been in use since the end of March 2022, the paper reported.
Keeping Ukraine's air defenses well-stocked "has been and remains a priority for U.K. military support," the British Defense Ministry said in October 2022. "So far we have provided a variety of air defense systems including Stormer vehicles fitted with StarStreak launchers, and hundreds of anti-air missiles," it added in a statement.
"The missiles are interchangeable with the launcher and the LMM is best for UAVs," the senior defense source said.
Newsweek has reached out to the British Defense Ministry and the Ukrainian General Staff for comment.
The Martlet is a lightweight, precision-strike missile that can be launched from the air, sea or ground. It is touted as able to take down a myriad of threats, including armored vehicles and incoming uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), according to its manufacturer. StarStreak missiles were designed more with fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters in mind.
The Martlet was originally developed as a naval weapon to be used against boats, it has proved itself effective against land targets, weapons expert David Hambling told Newsweek.
It is designed for an "urban environment," Thales, which makes the missiles in its Northern Ireland facility, has said, praising the missile's "low collateral damage."
"It is a useful extra capability for Ukraine and obviously the more weapons they can get the better," Hambling said. Yet the missile could be as much as 50 times more expensive than the cost of a first-person-view drone, which Ukraine has in abundance and can fulfil a similar role, he argued.
"Martlet is undoubtedly more effective, and will be very welcome, but in small numbers it is very much a niche capability," Hambling said.
In late November, Ukraine's military said Russia had launched a "record number" of Shahed drones on its territory, sending 75 UAVs over Ukraine from two sites in Russia. The Ukrainian military said the drones hit at least six regions, including Kyiv.
Ukrainian officials and Western experts had predicted ahead of Ukraine's tougher fall and winter seasons that the Kremlin would repeat its bruising winter missile and drone strike campaign of 2022. Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Colonel Yuriy Ignat said in early October that Kyiv was bracing for even larger drone attacks than the previous year, adding that 500 Russia-launched Shahed drones were recorded in September 2023 alone.
About the writer
Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more