A video appears to show a British anti-aircraft missile shooting down a Russian helicopter in Ukraine. The United Kingdom has reportedly sent a team of Starstreak pilots to a secret location in a neighboring country to train Ukrainian forces. Russia’s ambassador to the United Kingdom has said that British arms supplies to Ukraine are “legitimate targets”.
A British anti-aircraft missile was used to shoot down a Russian helicopter in Ukraine for the first time, according to reports. Footage shows the Starstreak high-speed missile system hitting a Russian Mi-28N attack helicopter over the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, causing its tail to be cut in the air and splitting the aircraft in half. The Starstreak is Britain’s most advanced hand-held portable missile system, and the United Kingdom sent a mission to Ukraine in March along with another next-generation light anti-tank missile (NLAW) mission. A British Defense Department source told the Times of London that he believed the video showed Starstreak in action. The gun is aimed at its target by three laser beam arrows, according to the Times. The rocket accelerates to 4 Mach (3,000 mph) and is the fastest short-range rocket available. It can be fired from a base or shoulder launcher and can hit targets up to 7 kilometers or more than 4 miles away, the newspaper reported. Due to the complexity of its use, troops must have 1,000 successful hits on a simulator before being allowed to launch a live rocket. To help the Ukrainians seize the weapon, the British Ministry of Defense sent a team of Starstreak pilots and a simulator to a secret location in a neighboring country for training, the Times reported. Although the British pilots had planned to spend two to three weeks intensively training Ukrainian troops, its use this week suggests that soldiers have learned how to use it in just one or two weeks, the newspaper reported. A British Defense Department source told the Times that the anti-aircraft system had been in place for almost a week. The story goes on Russia’s ambassador to the United Kingdom told the Russian news agency TASS on Saturday that British arms supplies to Ukraine were “legitimate targets” for the Russian military. Ambassador Andrey Kelin said the supply of weapons such as Starstreak missiles was “destabilizing”. “They are worsening the situation, making it even more bloody. Obviously, these are new high-precision weapons,” Kelin told the news agency. “Of course, our armed forces will see them as a legitimate target if these supplies cross the Ukrainian border.” Read the original article in Business Insider
