In the spring of 2023, Ukraine received a powerful reinforcement for anti-aircraft fights – Western partners handed over the world-leading Patriot air defense systems. Now we clearly know that this system can even shoot down Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and most other ballistic rockets, as its capabilities and high efficiency have been demonstrated in real-world combat situations many times.
Soldiers loading a missile container on the Patriot launcher platform. Image credit: Senior Airman Jerry Morrison, U.S. Air Force
The representative of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Yuriy Ihnat, recently explained the successful use of the Patriot air defense system in Ukraine. By November 27, thanks to this advanced American missile platform, Ukrainian soldiers managed to shoot down 15 hypersonic missiles of the infamous “Kinzhal” type.
This number is important, because the reserves of these missiles in the Russian army are far from endless.
In addition, Ihnat noted that with the help of Patriot, dozens of other ballistic missiles were shot down in Ukraine. He emphasized that this defensive weapon received as military aid from the U.S. has already proven its worth.
“We already have 15 downed Kinzhals. In addition, dozens of ballistic missiles flying towards Kyiv were shot down,” Ihnat spoke.
Training mockup of Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic air-to-surface missile mounted on Russian MiG-31K. Image credit: Boevaya mashina via Wikimedia / CC BY-SA 3.0
The Kinzhal missile was shot down for the first time on May 4, 2023 – when the Russians tried to attack Kyiv with it. On May 16, the Russians launched 6 Kinzhals nearly simultaneously, but none of the missiles hit the target.
Russian propaganda promoted Kinzhal as a missile that has “no analogs in the world” and is “impossible to shoot down”. Russian propagandists also called the Patriot an “obsolete” system.
According to Ukrainian intelligence, in 2023 as of November, Russia still has about 80 Kinzhal missiles in its stockpiles. The Russians can only produce 1-2 missiles of this type per month.
Written by Alius Noreika