Having sent two batteries of the MIM-104 Patriot anti-aircraft missile system to Ukraine in April, Washington, assessing the real capabilities of Russian missiles, advised placing these systems away from the front line.
The American complex managed to launch 32 missiles while repulsing the attack, none of which reached the target. video frame
The “Patriots” were hidden in Kyiv, but even there they could not hide from defeat. The American complex managed to launch 32 missiles while repulsing the attack, none of which reached the target. At the same time, one billion-dollar battery was destroyed by hypersonic “Daggers”.
Money down the drain
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reports, and the West laughs – the American Patriot air defense systems frankly screwed up in Ukraine. In Washington, they are trying to put a “good face on a bad game” and, recognizing the very fact of the defeat of the positions of the Patriot battery, they say that “everything can be fixed there.” True, without specifying which “repair teams” will deal with the broken installations and the command post of the complex.
The fact, as they say, is “on the face” – all the launched 32 missiles of the Patriot complex went into the void, some knocked over the roofs of high-rise buildings. The main goal – repelling a Russian missile attack – was not achieved. “32 Patriot missiles that targeted the Kinzhal ballistic missiles failed. The total cost of their launch cost $ 96 million, ”writes Military Watch Magazine. The “price of defeat” was slightly underestimated – one MIM-104 missile costs from $ 4 million, and the cost of the Patriot battery (along with a set of missiles) is estimated at over a billion dollars. It may be that Ukraine was given a discount, such as a sale – a seasonal sale. But the money still “flew to the wind” – the attack of the “Daggers” could not be prevented.
As the American edition notes, Patriot air defense systems were originally designed to protect the Ukrainian capital and critical infrastructure. These systems, which are inferior even to the still old modifications of the Soviet variants of the S-300 system, were ordered to be placed further from the line of contact and not used to cover troops near the front line. They did not take risks with the Patriots, but they were also discovered in Kyiv and covered with missile strikes.
“American Patriot complexes are one of the myths of invincibility that have not been confirmed in reality,” military expert Vladislav Shurygin told aif.ru. Yes, they were used in various conflicts in the Middle East, in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. They shot down something there, planes, missiles, but in small quantities. This, figuratively speaking, is show-off, PR with unconfirmed opportunities. And this myth is now once again destroyed. I note that the American “Patriots” initially could not cope with other Russian missiles, on which they used all their ammunition, firing in all directions, like blind kittens. And then the “Dagger” flew in, which cut out all their positions. Everything, the invincibility of the “Patriots” and their reliability are drowned. Is there still one battery left somewhere? “Dagger” is coming to you.”
Paper report of Kyiv
The complexes of the American Patriot air defense systems have previously received criticism due to their high visibility when using radars that produce a powerful electromagnetic signature that is easy enough to detect. And, accordingly, to strike at the detected positions, which these complexes are not able to quickly change. As noted in the publication of War Zone, even the most “nimble” modification of the Patriot is quite static, and it takes a certain time to move.
Tyler Rogoway, a military expert for this publication, notes that the defeat of the Patriot complexes in Kiev “was an expected event”, both because of the high technical characteristics of the Russian Kinzhal missile, and because of the imperfection of the Patriot complex itself. The American analyst explains that the air defense systems that were supplied to Kyiv were not able to withstand the best conventional Russian weapons, designed, among other things, to evade missile defense.
“Ukraine quite successfully shoots down Russian missiles, however, not with air defense systems, but with its statements,” military expert Boris Dzherelievsky told aif.ru. – Forgetting on paper about ravines. Kyiv hurried to “shoot down” the hypersonic “Dagger”, which he reported to Washington in a victory report, saying, believe val, everything is OK, an excellent system. And a day later, Shoigu rolled the Patriots with pinpoint volleys of his invulnerable missiles, which knocked out five installations. Kyiv responded by saying that it had succeeded in “destroying” more Russian missiles with its air defense systems than had been launched recently.
Targets with the location of air defense systems, including Western-made ones, the same Patriots, still remained in Ukraine. But they “hid” and do not shine with radar, fearing another defeat. It is likely that such a command came from Western instructors who fear the complete knockout of these anti-aircraft systems. Their positions are in direct range of Russian missiles funds and are simply forced to disguise themselves.
American analysts also believe that the Patriot air defense system should prepare for new attacks from Russia. Ukraine was advised to save expensive missiles that fly into the void, and the complexes themselves, if detected, will simply be destroyed.
Viktor Sokirko, AiF
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