Ukrainian Military Upgrades Soviet “Kub” Air Defense System to Shoot Down “Shahed” Drones

Ukrainian forces adapted the Soviet Kub air defense system to counter Russian drones, combining it with Buk components and destroying thousands of Shahed drones during the full-scale war.

The Defense Forces of Ukraine have adapted the Soviet-era Kub surface-to-air missile system to target Russian attack drones. This was reported by Air Command Center, according to Oboronka.

The Kub system was developed in the USSR in the 1960s to protect “tank divisions from aerial attack assets flying at medium and low altitudes.” At the time, the system was designed to engage air targets flying at speeds of 420–600 meters per second at altitudes from 100–200 meters up to 5–7 kilometers, with a range of about 20 kilometers.

Ukrainian forces have now modernized the Kub by combining the self-propelled SAM platform with modern command-and-control solutions and tactics, the Air Force explained.

“Comparing the Kub and the Buk is almost impossible, because they are two different systems. But specialists in Ukraine managed to combine them into a single whole. In terms of combat operation, it’s not difficult at all. Everything is carried out from the self-propelled firing unit — all controls and launches. If the launch signal does not go through, then the launch is carried out by the crew commander on the Kub. But so far, I haven’t had a case where a launch didn’t go through from my vehicle,” said Oleh, deputy battery commander.

Adapting the Soviet-era SAM system to shoot down drones became necessary, among other reasons, due to the intensive use of various systems and the depletion of missiles in the first years of the full-scale invasion, explained Oleh, head of the battalion’s combat control section.

“2022–2023 were a period of very intensive operation for our systems, and the missiles were simply running out. So we created a Kub–Buk combination,” the serviceman said.

According to Air Command Center, the modernized Kub has already shot down five Russian Shahed attack drones.

Oboronka previously reported that the Ukrainian Air Force also uses the latest American Tempest SAM systems, as well as British Raven systems. Overall, during 2025, Ukrainian forces destroyed more than 27,000 Shahed attack drones.