Many ballistic missiles, like the Kinzhal, have the capacity for hypersonic flight, sometimes at speeds actually faster than so-called "hypersonic weapons," and can achieve some maneuverability, but they don't have a sustained hypersonic flight ability, experts say, nor do they create headaches for defenders in the same way. The Kinzhal is not a "hypersonic" weapon, as Moscow often claims, which is to say the Kinzhal is not part of a new class of hard-to-kill missiles that exclusively includes highly maneuverable hypersonic glide vehicles and hypersonic cruise missiles able to maintain hypersonic speeds throughout most of the flight. That one of Russia's Kinzhal missiles was supposedly shot down in Ukraine raises questions about these vaunted claims. But because Russia has a tendency to make hyperbolic claims about its weapons, it is unclear which of these stats on the Russian missile are accurate. The Kinzhal missile system, as Putin described it in his address, sounds deadly and quite unbeatable. The Russian leader further stated that "the missile flying at a hypersonic speed, ten times faster than the speed of sound, can also maneuver at all phases of its flight trajectory," which "allows it to overcome all existing and, I think, prospective anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense systems, delivering nuclear and conventional warheads in a range of over 2,000 kilometers." The Patriot air defense system, a complex capability manufactured by US defense companies, "is one of the world's most advanced air defense systems, and it will give Ukraine a critical long-range capability to defend its airspace," a senior Department of Defense official said when the US announced it would send a Patriot battery to Ukraine. As an effective and reliable missile defense system, the Patriot is in use in well over a dozen countries and has been tested in combat, according to a congressional report on missile defense for Ukraine. The Patriot's phased-array radar is capable of tracking up to a hundred targets at once out to ranges in excess of 150 kilometers and guiding up to nine missiles at a time. The MIM-104 "Patriot" Air Defense Battery, the weapon the US and Ukraine said Kyiv's forces used to shoot down the Kinzhal in Ukraine last week, is a surface-to-air missile system designed to, as the US Army characterized it, "engage and intercept any aerial threats whether it be aircraft or tactical ballistic missiles under any weather conditions." Valery Gerasimov, who is commanding operations in Ukraine, boasted it was "invulnerable to air defense capabilities deployed in Ukraine."Ī general view of a mobile defence surface-to-air missile system, Patriot, before it is transported to Poland from Gnoien, Germany January 23, 2023. Similarly, Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Shoigu said last August, as he announced the use of the Kinzhal in Ukraine, that "no one else has such a missile yet: hypersonic, and with such speed, and with such penetrating capabilities," arguing, per the state media readout, "it is impossible neither to detect it nor to intercept."Īnd in December, Russian Gen. The manufacturer, Rostec, previously claimed "there is no countermeasure to our missiles." The Ukrainians recently did what the Kremlin said was impossible and shot down an advanced Russian Kinzhal missile, according to the US and Ukrainian militaries.Ī missile defense expert called the intercept by a Patriot missile "impressive," for both the advanced American-made missile defense system and its Ukrainian operators, as it looks like concrete evidence that the powerful Kinzhal missile was never what Russia claimed it was. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.
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