The Ukrainian Armed Forces already have two types of improvised surface-to-air missile systems from the United Kingdom — Raven and Gravehawk. Both systems remain somewhat mysterious, and they share some features: they use air-to-air missiles, they are not in service with the British Army as well as they were created exclusively for Ukraine’s air defense.
That’s why it’s important to outline the differences between these two British improvised air defense systems for Ukraine. At the same time, the question rose by Defense Express’ experts is whether it would be realistic to have Ukraine’s own system based on the R-27 air-to-air missile.
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Raven is an improvised mobile air defense system that uses AIM-132 ASRAAM air-to-air missiles. . It became known that the Armed Forces of Ukraine received this system in the summer of 2023 while public information about Raven only appeared recently in a report of BFBS Forces News.
It was the report that revealed the name of the system (Raven),a fact that Ukraine has already received eight units of the system, as well as well as a fact that these systems have shot down 400 aerial targets with an effectiveness rate of about 70%.
Ukrainian Forces is expected to receive five more units. These systems use pylons that are used on Tornado, Jaguar, and Hawk aircraft. The range and altitude capabilities of the onboard electro-optical detection system have not been disclosed.
Gravehawk is an improvised system that uses R-73 missiles and is built into a standard shipping container. Information about this system first appeared at the beginning of 2025. Currently, two prototypes have been delivered, while 15 serial units are expected to be delivered this year.
Specifications and effectiveness of the system are still unknown. However, there are open-source images showing what the secret Gravehawk system for Ukraine really looks like.
It’s also worth mentioning India’s example. India created its own improvised SAM system, called SAMAR-2, which uses R-27ET air-to-air infrared homing missiles. The successful development and testing of this system were reported in February 2023. It can hit aerial targets at a range of up to 20 kilometers.
So far, it’s unclear whether SAMAR-2 has entered service in the Indian army. This system uses the infrared-guided version of the R-27 missile. But it’s possible that this Indian development could become a reference point for creating a new improvised air defense system to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense.
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