UK Raven Air Defense System Proves Its Frontline Role After Downing Russian Missiles in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Air Command West says its British-made Raven launcher has shot down four Russian missiles and 24 drones. The claim highlights how allied quick-turn engineering projects are strengthening Ukraine’s short-range air defenses.

A fresh statement on the Ukrainian Air Command West social media, posted Oct. 24, names the British-built Raven short-range air defense system as the launcher that has already destroyed four Russian missiles, three Kh-59s, one Kh-101 and 24 Russian strike and reconnaissance drones. The post quotes the Raven crew commander, identified as Artem, recounting a first intercept in November 2023 and rapid follow-on kills as the unit pushed the system beyond its original counter-drone role. Independent Ukrainian media repeated the figures after the command’s disclosure.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link

Raven SHORAD fires IR-guided ASRAAMs to ambush drones, cruise missiles, and low-flying jets with rapid, silent shoot-and-scoot defense (Picture source: Ukrainian Air Force).

Raven is a rapid-response, truck-mounted launcher that fires the AIM-132 ASRAAM, adapted from its usual air-to-air role for surface launch. Built on the 6x6 Supacat HMT-600 chassis, it mounts twin missile rails repurposed from retired RAF Tornado, Hawk, and Jaguar aircraft and carries an electro-optical turret for target search and track. British engineers delivered the ad hoc system in roughly three months and fielded the first vehicles to Ukraine in 2023; eight systems were later shown publicly, with plans for additional deliveries. Crews can operate the launcher remotely from a short standoff, a design choice that shortens reaction time and improves survivability after firing.

At the heart of the system, ASRAAM brings a high-off-boresight imaging infrared seeker, a lock-on-after-launch flight profile, and a dual-thrust motor that drives the 88-kilogram missile past Mach 3. In the ground-launched role, effective reach is commonly cited around 15 kilometers, with a 10-kilogram blast-fragmentation warhead and laser proximity fuze doing the terminal work. The missile’s passive seeker lets Raven hunt without emitting radar energy, a crucial advantage against low-flying threats that try to mask under Ukraine’s radar horizon.

Russia’s Kh-59 is a subsonic air-launched cruise missile that typically skims in at 900 to 1,050 km/h using inertial navigation with terminal guidance options, making it a classic problem for point defenses around troop concentrations, bridges, and depots. The Kh-101, by contrast, is Russia’s stealthier long-range ALCM used in deep-strike salvos from Tu-95MS and Tu-160 bombers; it flies terrain-hugging routes and is optimized to exploit gaps in radar coverage. Bringing either down with a short-range system is nontrivial and speaks to Raven’s cueing, seeker performance, and crew training.

Raven gives Ukrainian commanders a mobile, silent ambush asset to plug seams in the layered shield that includes Patriot, SAMP/T, Buk, and IRIS-T. Crews can reposition along likely approach corridors, rely on EO/IR for acquisition, accept handoffs from local observers, and engage in seconds. The system’s small visual and electromagnetic signature makes it harder for Russian targeting cycles to target, while shoot-and-scoot tactics protect crews from counter-battery or loitering munitions retaliation. The recent report that a Raven team attempted to engage a Su-25 conducting rocket runs points to another mission set: deterring manned aircraft from pressing low over the FEBA, especially during glide-bomb or S-8 rocket attacks.

Raven air defense system illustrates how Ukraine and its partners are closing the cost-imposition gap of Russia’s missile and drone campaign. The United Kingdom not only supplied vehicles and hundreds of ASRAAM rounds, it fused available components into a fieldable SHORAD that complements Ukraine’s high-end batteries and keeps pressure on Russian planners who have counted on low-altitude routes and saturation tactics. With the Air Force now publicly crediting Raven for cruise-missile kills, Kyiv gains another proof point that allied rapid-capability efforts, the so-called FrankenSAM projects, are paying off and complicating Russia’s ability to terrorize cities or halt ground maneuver with standoff strikes.

Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.