CNN reported that the American military command had no doubt that on the night of May 4, Ukraine shot down a Russian hypersonic missile “Kinzhal” with the help of the Patriot air defense system. Earlier, this was stated by the command of the Air Forces of Ukraine.
Americans are sure that Ukraine shoots down the “Kinzhal”
The United States has no doubt that Ukraine could shoot down the Russian hypersonic missile with the help of the American Patriot air defense system. This was reported by the CNN news agency with reference to its own sources.
This statement sums up a long-running dispute that began on the night of May 4, 2023. Then the residents of Kyiv heard a powerful explosion. The speaker of the Air Force, Yuriy Ihnat, the next day denied that it could have been an interception of a ballistic missile. However, on May 5, the post of the Defense Express edition was published, which, with reference to photos taken at the crash site, proved that the Ukrainian military shot down a hypersonic missile.
Then the Ukrainian military reacted very sharply to the publication. Yuriy Ihnat again denied the possibility of shooting down ballistic missiles, namely, the command refused to comment on this topic, advising to contact Defense Express for explanations. You can learn more about this situation from this article.
“Kinzhal” was still shot down
Later, the command of the Ukrainian air forces still admitted that the hypersonic missile “Kinzhal” was shot down with the help of the American Patriot system. This led to a new wave of discussions, this time in Moscow and Washington.
The fact is that the Russians and Putin personally insist that the Kinzhal is a hypersonic vehicle capable of accelerating at any part of its trajectory to speeds above 12 km/s. As a result, it is supposedly capable of breaking through any of the existing air defense systems.
However, Western experts have always doubted Russia’s ability to create a full-fledged hypersonic weapon. These doubts grew even more during the Western sanctions, which made it extremely difficult for the aggressor country to obtain modern electronics.
Patriot system is effective against hypersonic missiles
As for the Patriot system, its ability to shoot down ballistic missiles moving at hypersonic speed has long been proven. But the ability to intercept hypersonic vehicles that are launched from air carriers and perform aerodynamic flight has been purely theoretical to date.
Now the ability of these systems to intercept Russian missiles has been proven. In the case of April 4, American military specialists were particularly pleasantly surprised by the fact that the “Kinzhal” was intercepted by the Ukrainian military, although they were trained at the training ground in Oklahoma, but in that situation they acted without prompting American advisers.
CNN sources claimed that this gave the US military confidence that the money for its development and improvement was not spent in vain. But Russia should reconsider its statements on Ukraine, taking into account the fact that its newest missiles are not afraid here.
According to edition.cnn.com
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