Ukrainian air force experts are delighted with the recent downing of a Russian hypersonic Kinzhal missile. They expect Putin to think twice before attacking Ukraine with tactical nuclear weapons.
The Kinzhal, which flies towards its target at five times the speed of sound, had been dubbed “invincible” by Russian President Vladimir Putin. But the fact that the Ukrainians – without the help of the Americans – shot down the missile, which can be equipped with a nuclear warhead, came as a big surprise and is celebrated by Kyiv as a historic victory.
“Ukrainian air defense systems are getting stronger day by day. There are regular discussions with missile suppliers, including Patriot and France’s SAMP-T,” said Oleksandr Musiyenko, chief of Kyiv’s Center for Military Studies. Novaya Gazeta the Russian daily newspaper in exile.
“The Kinzjal is difficult to intercept,” emphasizes Roman Svitan, military expert and colonel in the Ukrainian Air Force, “but the Patriot is very good at this task.”
The Patriot is designed to shoot down ballistic missiles such as the Russian Iskander. The Kinzjal is a modified version of the Iskander, but is not fired from the ground but from a high-flying MIG-31. After launch, it flies up into space, adjusts its course along the way and eventually goes down in a ballistic trajectory. The rocket initially reaches speeds of Mach 5, but the closer it gets to the Earth’s surface, the slower the rocket flies because the air resistance increases.
“Eventually the speed drops to Mach 2 and that is exactly the point where an air defense system can shoot him down,” Svitan clarifies. But this requires the air defense system to be no more than 40 to 50 kilometers from the estimated point of impact.
A Patriot missile explodes in midair, releasing thousands of pieces of metal for the oncoming Kinzjal to fly through, killing the missile. Svitan is convinced that Russian missiles equipped with nuclear warheads can also be intercepted and destroyed in this way.
The advantage of hypersonic missiles is their speed which makes it difficult for air defense systems to react in time. The fact that this has succeeded indicates that the Ukrainians have received real-time information from Western partners who are able to see via radar or from space whether a MIG-31 with a Kinzjal has taken to the air. “Only in that case will the air defense have enough time to prepare,” said Pavel Aksyonov, a military expert at the BBC.