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Britain’s Secret System With Recycled Jet Missiles Now Guards Ukrainian Skies With 70% Kill Rate
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![Ivan_khomenko]( "Photo of Ivan Khomenko")
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Ukraine has received at least eight units of the Raven short-range air defense system from the United Kingdom, with five more currently being prepared for delivery.
Designed to counter aerial threats such as Shahed-type drones, the system has conducted over 400 launches with a reported success rate of approximately 70%.
According to Defense Express and British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS), the Raven system was developed by the UK specifically for Ukraine in 2023, using a SupaCat HMT 600 vehicle chassis and AIM-132 ASRAAM air-to-air missiles adapted for surface launches.
The project, jointly executed by MBDA UK and SupaCat, moved from concept to operational system in just four months. Development was led by the Royal Air Force’s Air and Space Warfare Centre in response to Ukraine’s critical need for mobile air defense platforms.
A distinctive feature of the Raven system is the use of launch pylons originally intended for Tornado, Jaguar, and Hawk aircraft. These allow the missiles to be launched both from within the vehicle cabin and from a remote control station.
Each ASRAAM missile weighs 88 kilograms, can reach speeds of up to Mach 3, and is capable of engaging targets up to 15 kilometers away when launched from the ground. Its 10-kilogram warhead is designed to neutralize a wide range of aerial targets.
Training for the system involved 40 Ukrainian personnel, who upon return became instructors for further deployment within Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
The Raven has since become an active component in Ukraine’s air defense, particularly effective against loitering munitions and low-flying drones.
BFBS notes that as the intensity of Russian aerial attacks has increased and the supply of long-range systems like the Patriot has become more complex, the role of the Raven system in Ukraine’s air defense architecture has grown significantly.
Earlier, experimental V-BAT drones from Shield AI were secretly tested by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in real combat conditions to assess their resilience against Russian electronic warfare systems. After proving effective, the drones completed their first autonomous reconnaissance mission on the frontlines.
Shield AI has since opened an office in Kyiv and launched training programs to support Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, ensuring full operational deployment of the V-BAT drones in combat scenarios.
