China has been closely following Russia's use of Kinzhal missiles against Ukraine to see how the missiles work against American air defence systems in AFU's service.
China monitored the use of "Kinzhals" against Ukraine
Business Insider writes that Beijing hopes its Dongfeng hypersonic missiles will give an advantage over the US in a potential war.
However, some defence analysts in China are now questioning the effectiveness of the touted Russian missile.
According to the publication, last year, Chinese defence magazines wrote with great interest about the Russian Kizhal missiles, analysing its effectiveness against the Patriot systems provided by the United States and in general.
But the Kinzhal, touted by the Kremlin as an "unstoppable" hypersonic weapon, was destroyed by Patriot systems or simply missed its target.
Chinese analysts criticise Kinzhal
In November 2023, Chinese defence analyst Yin Jie criticised the Kinzhal in the military magazine Shaanxi Ordnance Industry Science and Technology.
There is more and more evidence that what the US and Ukraine are saying about this is true, he wrote about the downing of the missiles.
He added this missile is "unlikely to have a significant impact" on the battlefield, and the manoeuvrability of the Kinzhal "cannot be compared to the manoeuvrability of a real hypersonic missile".
The Chinese defence magazine Military Arms wrote that the Kinzhal was, at best, a "marginal hypersonic missile."
Although Russia calls the Kinzhal a hypersonic missile, analysts from other countries generally believe that the so-called Kinzhal hypersonic missile is actually an air-based version of the short-range Iskander tactical ballistic missile, the report said.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Russians have launched more than 60 such missiles at Ukraine. Twenty-five of them were downed by Ukrainian air defence forces.
Thanks to the Patriot air defence system, Ukraine can repel combined missile attacks of the Russian Federation. During Russia's massive shelling of Ukrainian cities at the beginning of 2024, it was possible to destroy 10 Kinzhal missiles at once.
