Ukraine blends Soviet Kub launchers with U.S. missiles to counter fast Russian Geran drones

As Western partners cut anti-aircraft missile shipments to one-third of previous levels, Ukraine’s 156th regiment has created a hybrid defence system by pairing Kub launchers, which lack their own radar, with Buk radar units to guide American RIM-7 missiles. This “FrankenSAM” configuration, described by the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, has enabled the unit to destroy roughly twenty Geran jet-propelled drones, which are harder for cheaper interceptors to engage.

Crews report that individual launchers have achieved more than thirty kills, and a single launcher has fired RIM-7 missiles over a hundred times. The mixed system is part of a multi-layered strategy that also uses electronic warfare, fighter aircraft and a new class of home-grown interceptor drones, with a goal of producing up to 400 such drones per month by the end of October. Until the domestic interceptors scale up, the improvised Kub-Buk launchers remain a critical stopgap.