The claim was made by the Ukrainian Air Force on Saturday. If this is true, it is the first time the Ukrainians have been able to stop the sophisticated weapon. The Russian military claims that the image shows the launch of the Kinzjal missile during an exercise in 2018. Photo: RU-RTR Russian Television / AP “Unique” Kinzjal On the evening of May 4, a Russian MiG-31K fighter jet fired a Kh47M2 Kinzjal hypersonic cruise missile , from Russian territory. The missile was headed for the capital, Kyiv. That’s what General Mykola Oleshchuk claims on Telegram. He is the Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian Air Force. But the missile, which Russia said was “impossible” to stop, was intercepted, writes the general. – I congratulate the Ukrainian people on this historic event. – Yes, we have shot down the “unique” Kinzjal. An airman examines a MiG-31K fighter jet carrying a Kinzjal hypersonic cruise missile during an exercise in Russia on February 19, 2022. Photo: Russian Defense Ministry / AFP Kinzjal – “dagger” in Norwegian – is among Russia’s most advanced weapons, and was launched by President Vladimir Putin back in March 2018. Hypersonic missiles of the Kinzjal type have been used several times during the war, without the Ukrainians being able to stop them. A speed of mach 10, i.e. 3,000 meters per second, and a unique maneuverability make the missile extremely difficult to stop. So what has changed, then? – Not unlikely By the end of 2022, Washington DC promised to send “Patriot” anti-aircraft defense to Ukraine. The system is considered to be the best air defense system the United States has. A US MIM-104 Patriot system located at Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport in Poland on April 7, 2022. Photo: FABRIZIO BENSCH / Reuters With three types of missiles, the weapon system is designed to stop everything from fighter jets and helicopters to rockets and ballistic cruise missiles. And last month, the Ukrainians received the weapon system that enables them to intercept hypersonic cruise missiles. Ole Jørgen Maaø is a historian and associate professor at the Norwegian Air Force School in Trondheim. Photo: Forsvarets Høgskole – That a Patriot battery could have stopped a Kinzjal missile is not unlikely, says associate professor Ole Jørgen Maaø at the Norwegian Air Force School. But he reserves himself from speculating that Ukraine has made it this far. He reminds that there is an information war going on on both the Russian and Ukrainian sides, and therefore he takes such messages with a “pinch of salt”. He is not alone in that. Because although the American authorities claim to The New York Times that American analysts have verified the interception, independent analysts the newspaper has contacted are more restrained. At least until more information is made available. Important, but not decisive Maaø says Patriot is a very large reinforcement of the Ukrainian air force in general. – Whether it is Kinzjal or other types of hypersonic missiles, the system will be able to stop them, given that it is in defense of the objects that the Russians attack. Maaø explains that the radar on the battery must be tuned to detect missiles as fast as the Kinzjal missile. The battery also depends on being well placed for two reasons. Short Warning Time: When hypersonic missiles strike, they break their trajectory and attack at a very steep angle of attack. The battery must be close to the impact area for the Patriot battery’s missiles to be able to intercept incoming attacks. – For the Ukrainians, it is probably most important to focus on the volume of missile attacks – it is probably much more important than their ability to stop one particular type of missile, says Maaø.
ttn-69
Claims to have shot down hypersonic missile – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
