Estonia buys Polish MANPADS shooting down Russian Su-24 and Su-25

By TOC

WARSAW ($1=4.73 Polish Zlotys) — Poland and Estonia plan to conclude an agreement on the export of Piorun MANPADS. This is reported by defense24.pl citing its sources. We are talking about several dozen launchers and hundreds of missiles, the Polish military portal writes. They plan to sign the agreement next week.

72mm Piorun MANPADS may have shot down the Su-35 over Ukraine
Photo credit: Twitter

Estonia will become the second operator of Polish MANPADS among the Baltic states. In 2014, Lithuania purchased the first batch of Grom man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems.

The current Piorun MANPADS is a deep modernization of the Polish Grom complexes produced by the Mesko company. In the new model, the sensitivity of the infrared homing head has been increased four times.

MANPADS Piorun in Ukraine

Piorun MANPADS are used in the armed forces of Ukraine. Poland transferred a number of these complexes to Ukraine even before the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022.

72mm Piorun MANPADS may have shot down the Su-35 over Ukraine
Photo credit: Wikipedia

The Ukrainian military has repeatedly shot down Russian helicopters and drones using these missiles. Piorun can also hit small aerial targets, such as anti-aircraft missiles, due to non-contact detonation. The missile has a 1.82 kg warhead and can hit targets at a height of up to 4,000 m at a distance of up to 6,500 m.

MANPADS Piorun is the latest development of the Poles, even in its own armed forces of the Ministry of Defense of Poland, this weapon began to be used only in 2019.

Missiles for the Piorun complex can be used not only in a MANPADS set, this weapon is also suitable for the Poprad and PSR-A Pilica air defense systems.

Piorun MANPADS against Su-35, Su-24, and Su-25

In early April, Ukrainian armed forces shot down a Russian Su-35 fighter jet over Ukraine. Then a claim was confirmed that the Polish man-portable air-defense system [MANPADS] Piorun [meaning “thunderbolt” in Polish] may have shot down the Russian 4.5 generation Su-35 fighter on April 3 in the Izyum region.

72mm Piorun MANPADS may have shot down the Su-35 over Ukraine
Photo credit: Twitter

Takahashi Kosuke suggests that the Polish Piorun surface-to-air missile could shoot down a Russian fighter, especially if it was flying at a low altitude. Takahashi Kosuke is a Japanese journalist from Kawasaki City who writes for the Japanese version of Yahoo News. Former editor-in-chief of HuffPost Japan. He graduated from Keio University School of Economics in 1993 and graduated from Columbia University’s School of Journalism and SIPA in 2004.

So far, there is no definite confirmation as to whether a portable surface-to-air missile system or an anti-aircraft missile system shot down the Russian fighter jet. However, Piorun MANPADS can take down low-flying aircraft, airplanes, helicopters, and unmanned aerial vehicles.

There are reports from the Armed Forces of Ukraine that this system shot down at least one Su-24 attack aircraft and one subsonic, single-seat, twin-engine Su-25 aircraft, as well as a Mi-24 helicopter [watch the YouTube video] during hostilities in the country. against Russian troops.

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