Among the latest additions to Ukrainian air defenses is the Raven, a British-made, truck-mounted air defense system. The Raven is a hybrid vehicle that marries the British HMT 600 Supacat truck with ASRAAM air-to-air missiles, Forbes reports
As part of the UK’s military assistance to Ukraine, eight Raven units have been delivered so far, with five more on the way, according to Forbes. Though it has been operational since at least 2023, the system only recently appeared in official video footage.
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According to Royal Marines Colonel Olly Todd of Task Force Kindred, which focuses on arming Ukraine,
“It’s an amazing system which combines the HMT 600 Supacat vehicle with an advanced short-range air-to-air missile, the ASRAAM missile.” Todd also said the Raven is “one of the most effective short-range air-defense systems in use in Ukraine at the moment.”
British engineers repurposed hardware from decommissioned Royal Air Force jets, removing the missile rails and attaching them to the Supacat trucks. The Ravens use simple camera gimbals for targeting, operated by repurposed video game controllers, to aim 200-pound ASRAAMs at aerial threats. Once launched, the infrared-guided missiles lock on to heat signatures within a 15-mile or 24-km radius.
Ukraine’s growing FrankenSAM arsenal
The Raven is one product of a broader improvisational approach shared by Ukraine and its allies. Since Russia’s expanded invasion in 2022, Ukraine has sought to combine Soviet-era systems with donated Western gear. The UK initiated the effort in 2022, with the US following in 2023 under its FrankenSAM program. Ukraine runs similar projects in parallel. This approach focuses on resolving the incompatibilities among launchers, missiles, and radars. Raven is a prime example of these improvised but functional defense systems.
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Other FrankenSAM variants include Soviet-era vehicles firing old US infrared and radar-guided air-to-air missiles, and Soviet platforms retooled to launch air-to-air missiles from the ground—something not previously attempted before the full-scale war.
Limitations and remaining needs
FrankenSAM systems like the Raven mainly offer short-range protection, as air-to-air missiles generally top out at a few dozen miles. Ukraine’s key gap remains in long-range missile defense, addressed only by the US Patriot and European SAMP/T. Although some Soviet radars reportedly interface with Patriot units, most of Ukraine’s estimated eight long-range SAM batteries are conventional, not hybrid builds.