RUSSIA is on track to run out of anti-drone missiles by February, military experts have told The Sun.
They said Vladimir Putin’s troops are firing them faster than they can be replaced.
GettyPutin’s troops are on track to run out of anti-drone missiles by February, military experts have told The Sun[/caption]
East2WestUkraine strikes an ammunition storage facility in occupied Luhansk in eastern Ukraine[/caption]
The shortage could force Kremlin chiefs to stretch their defences more thinly and leave some targets totally exposed.
The shortage is affecting Pantsir missiles, which are used to shoot long range one-way attack drones.
It comes as Ukraine hits Russian oil refineries on an almost nightly basis — sending the price of petrol soaring.
Moscow is scrambling to ramp up missile production, but UK officials believe it could take months for it to make a difference.
A top defence source said: “Based on current trends they are due to almost run out by February.”
They cautioned: “We need to be careful not to draw too much comfort from this as Russia has consistently run down its stocks of cruise and ballistic missiles and then it builds them up again.”
Dr Jack Watling, from the Rusi think tank, said the looming shortage would give Ukraine a “window of opportunity” to hammer more targets.
He said: “It will be able to exploit Russia’s shortages and weaknesses to hit a growing number of targets and put pressure on Russian industry.”
The Sun understands the shortage has not affected Russia’s longer range S300 and S400 systems, used to intercept cruise and ballistic missiles.