It is impossible to shoot down a Russian hypersonic missile “Kinzhal” using the American Patriot system, military expert and Soviet-Russian Cosmonaut and the first man to conduct spacewalk Alexei Leonov told RIA Novosti.
Earlier, the Pentagon said that the “Kinzhal” was shot down by Patriot in Ukraine. According to Leonov, such statements appear due to a lack of results, including against the background of the declining effectiveness of HIMARS, which the Russian military has learned to counter.
Leonov noted that the Patriot radar could not track the “Kinzhal”; there is a limit on the speed of the intercepted target to Mach 3 numbers. “Anything that flies faster, they cannot give target designation – this is if shooting down on an oncoming course. If you shoot down the oncoming course, the anti-missile must fly 1.5 times faster than the “Kinzhal,” the expert said.
On May 5, 2023, the Ukrainian air force claimed to have shot down Russia’s hypersonic missile, called ‘Kinzhal’, meaning ‘dagger’ in Russian. This missile is considered to be Russia’s most potent weapon, capable of reaching speeds over Mach 10 and believed to be unstoppable. However, the US-made Patriot defence system was reported to have successfully intercepted and destroyed the missile, according to the Ukrainian air force.
According to Leonov’s theory, the anti-missile must fly 1.5 times faster than the approaching missile in order to counter the attack successfully. The top speed of Patriot munition is Mach 2.8 of PAC-1 and Mach 4.1 of PAC-2/PAC-3. Still, it has no match for intercepting or hitting the Russian dagger.
There has been a claim by the Ukrainian military that they shot down a Russian hypersonic missile, but some military experts doubt its authenticity. Those military experts think the missile appears to be a BETAB-500 bomb, which indicates that the Ukrainian military may not be telling the truth.
🤡: “Look, it isn’t quite new, but believe me with a bit of paint it will look like a new Kinzhal.”
The mayor of Kiev, Vitali Klitschko, fell victim to deception by the Ukrainian Armed Forces and also passed off a BetAB-500ShP bomb as a "Dagger" in a conversation with German… pic.twitter.com/mOtPGePUZ6
— Zlatti71 (@Zlatti_71) May 10, 2023
On the other hand, the Pentagon officially confirmed that the Patriot shot down the Russian hypersonic missile “Kinzhal” Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder confirmed that the Patriot air defence system shot down the Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missile. He added that he could not ensure whether the American or the Dutch Patriot did it, but Kinjal was definitely shot down.
The Pentagon officially confirmed that the Patriot shot down the Russian hypersonic missile "Kinzhal"
Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder confirmed that the Patriot air defense system shot down the Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missile. He added that he could not… pic.twitter.com/8jPreS43bV— Spriter (@Spriter99880) May 9, 2023
Opposing the Pentagon statement, the Russian defence Ministry proudly claims that their unstoppable Kinzhal destroyed the US-made Patriot system deployed in Ukraine.