Ukrainian Special Operations Force (SSO) reported that they have successfully targeted and destroyed a sophisticated Russian radar system, known as “Kasta-2E2,” utilizing a drone. The SSO shared a video of the strike, but didn’t specify where exactly the attack took place.
The Ukrainian military regularly publish the footage of attacks on Russian air defense assets. Weakening the Russian air defenses may be one of Ukraine’s major objectives before the advent of the first F-16 fighter jets, expected sometime this year.
The “Kasta-2E2” radar, a state-of-the-art tri-coordinate mobile radar system, is particularly designed for comprehensive airspace control and the detection of airborne targets at extremely low altitudes. Its capabilities include tracking and providing detailed flight data to anti-aircraft and air force control systems, which are crucial for intercepting enemy aircraft.
The Ukrainian military disclosed that the radar was located during aerial reconnaissance operations on an unspecified front. This advanced radar system was previously identified by the OSCE mission on temporarily occupied territory in Luhansk back in 2021, when it was initially deployed by Russian forces to counteract Ukrainian combat drones.
The moment of the strike was captured on video, which shows the Russian “Kasta-2E2” radar fully assembled just as it is hit by the drone, resulting in an explosion.
This recent attack marks another significant use of Ukraine’s latest drone technologies that have been incorporated into the arsenal of the Special Operations Forces. Previous incidents include a February 2024 strike near the Russian-Ukrainian border and a September 2023 operation where a similar radar system was eliminated in Kursk Oblast, Russia, by a drone operated by the Ukrainian Security Service.
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