/ world today news/ The USA continues to deny the destruction of the “Patriot” anti-aircraft missile system in Ukraine – moreover, it is claimed that its “minor damage” has been repaired and the complex has been returned to service. Why can’t these claims be taken seriously, and what missiles were the Daggers company making to destroy the expensive American air defense systems?
Since its debut in Operation Desert Storm (1991), the US Patriot air defense system has never proven itself as a reliable defense system. But in terms of publicity, it is second to none in the world.
Why do the Americans claim that the complex was damaged but not destroyed as a result of the strike? “Patriot” is the pride of the American military-industrial complex, a modern product. Americans cannot publicly acknowledge his loss. Therefore, all the Western media, at the suggestion of the Pentagon, talk about its “damage” – but not about the destruction of this system. “Damage to the Patriot air defense system following a Russian missile attack near Kiev on Tuesday morning is minimal,” CNN cited reports from its official sources in the U.S. government.
How Americans lie
There are important details in reports by US media and officials. In particular, the battery of the Patriot complex includes many elements. Some of them actually survived the impact. This is what formally allows the Americans to claim that the complex was “damaged” but not “destroyed”.
Here is the composition of the equipment of an air defense system (which is in service in the battery). The combat operation of the air defense system includes: a command post, a radar, from four to eight launchers, from two to four relay stations, two or three diesel generators, transport-loading machines, tugboats and several other facilities. And of course, the complex has anti-aircraft guided missiles (SAMS) at its disposal, from four to 16 on each launcher. It is indeed a large menagerie.
The elements of the position complex are not close to each other. Usually, the command post and the radar stand next to each other, and the launchers can be tens or even hundreds of meters apart. A launcher can even be moved as far as 20 km.
Therefore, yes – it will not be possible to hit the entire complex with one missile. You can destroy seven of the eight launchers, half of the relay systems and diesel generators, but the complex will retain the ability to fire missiles at targets. But without a radar and a command post, the air defense system does not work. The rockets just won’t get the “Start” command.
But it was the failure of the multifunctional radar – a key element of the complex – that the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced. “According to reliable data, on May 16 of this year, as a result of the strike of a hypersonic missile system “Dagger” in the city of Kyiv, a multifunctional radar station was hit and completely destroyed, as well as five launchers of an American anti-aircraft missile system “Patriot”, reads his statement. There is no reason not to believe that.
How can one or two missiles destroy so much equipment? There is much speculation on the web that the X-47M2 “Dagger” missile has a penetrating warhead and explodes at a great depth in the ground. That is true. But for some reason, no one mentions that there is also a high-explosive warhead weighing 480 kg. At a relatively high altitude – about two kilometers – it ejects an undisclosed amount of submunitions. Their explosion (supposedly) at a height of about 50 m results in the spraying of a huge area of fragments. There is no doubt that exactly such a warhead was used in the case against the Patriot.
There is also another important indirect circumstance. So far, there are no photos of damage to the complex, satellite photos of craters in positions, and similar information anywhere. In modern information openness, even in the conditions of Ukrainian military censorship, this is very important. Clearly, any photo will show that the remains of the Patriot complex were, in fact, beyond repair. If the radar was slightly damaged (and this is a hit of a few fragments at most), it could indeed be repaired. And to demonstrate – to prove that there was no hit – the photo of the surviving “Patriot”. But there’s really nothing to show for it.
The US officially recognizes its participation in the repair of the complex. “The system that was damaged in Ukraine is working again,” a Pentagon spokesman said. According to him, the US has provided Ukraine with “some assistance” for the repair of the complex.
Yes, the US can indeed provide such assistance through its NATO partners. To deliver air defense elements from Poland or Germany. And the repair can be called module replacement. A module can be considered radar and launchers in general. The connection between all elements of the air defense system is digital, there is no need to make analog settings, so connecting a new radar with a command post and launchers will not be very difficult. A new radar can be secretly brought to Kyiv and installed in place of the old one. Why not call this a renovation.
But this does not negate the fact that in reality the “Patriot” was destroyed. That’s how it should have happened – after all, the ballistic target (the “Dagger” missiles) is very complicated for the “Patriot”. First of all, because of the extremely high speed of the attacking warhead. To facilitate the detection of such targets, the Patriot system used satellite targeting. In fact, without one, it can hit such targets with a very low probability due to their late detection.
Speed first
The sheer speed of a ballistic target is a major point. When the Patriot air defense system was being developed, requirements were set for it – to hit tactical ballistic missiles with a launch range of 100-160 km. Such missiles have a maximum speed of about 1000 m/s. It is this figure that is present in its operational characteristics.
But the Kinzhal missile, the OTRK Iskander ballistic missile, and the Russian Kh-22 and Kh-32 air-launched cruise missiles have much higher speeds. Much higher than the Patriot’s hit rate limit.
Due to such a high speed, the destruction zone of the Patriot system for accessible ballistic targets is much smaller than 160 km. In fact, at a speed of about 1000 m/s, the range will be no more than 15-20 km, but at the same time it will be very limited in terms of the course parameter – the minimum distance from the launch point of the anti-missile system to the target course .
In addition, a Patriot air defense system is defenseless against warheads or missiles that attack it due to its technical characteristics (for example, the angle of the radar scan in the vertical plane is 70 degrees).
Highest craftsmanship
So what actually happened in Kyiv? How was the “Patriot” destroyed? Apparently “The Dagger” did not work alone. It was accompanied by another high-velocity missile. But not from Caliber.
If you carefully watch the recorded clips, you will notice that the trajectories of the missiles fired by the air defense systems first pass at smaller angles to the horizon, then become steeper. This suggests that the firing was done at a horizontal (or nearly horizontal) target at high altitude.
But, as already mentioned, the X-47M2 “Dagger” missile attacks the target almost vertically – 80-90 degrees. So the Patriot fired at other missiles. In addition, if the shooting was carried out on the “Daggers” (and there are six of them at the same time, according to the statements of Ukrainian propagandists), then the first interceptor missiles would rise steeply into the sky, and each subsequent one at an increasingly smaller angle. Because the target’s line of sight will be reduced. In the video it is the opposite.
Maybe it was Guerand or Caliber? These are low altitude targets. After launch, the missiles would have to make a “slide” and dive down. We don’t see that in this video either.
In other words, the Patriot air defense system was shooting at something else. And that other one might have been an X-22 missile with an anti-radar guidance system. Then everything fits. Such a missile flies at an altitude of 22 km – and its line of sight from the air defense system rises all the time. We see – at the beginning of the shooting, the trajectories are relatively low, then higher and higher. In the last part of the trajectory, the X-22 falls on the target almost vertically.
Thus, Russia attacked the Patriot air defense system with X-22 missiles with an anti-radar homing head. But not only with those – it was complex work. The Dagger missiles approach the target after 30-40 seconds and complete the rout. Moreover, their approach to the target is coordinated with astonishing precision. The Russian military showed the highest skill and a brilliant operation.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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