According to military analysts at the Defense Express portal, the Ukrainian military could have used the Patriot surface-to-air missile (SAM) system to hit a Russian Tu-22M3 bomber that fired missiles at Ukraine during the attack on 29 December.
How Armed Forces of Ukraine could have hit a Tu-22M3 bomber using the Patriot air defence system
According to the analysts of the Defense Express portal, Russian war criminals shelled the city of Smila, in Cherkasy region, with Kh-22 missiles on 29 December at around 14:46 using a Tu-22M3 bomber that had taken off from the territory of Kursk region.
Given the range of the Kh-22 missile, which is 400 km, it can be launched at a distance of 80-90 km from the border with Ukraine. And if the conditional Patriot is located 40 km from the border with Russia, this means that the Tu-22M3 launch line still falls within the 160-kilometre range of this air defence system, the portal's analysts note.
They explain that, in addition to the range of the target, any air-to-air missile has a parameter such as the absence of a take-off zone.
The distance at which the enemy aircraft will definitely not go beyond the kill range. Therefore, as soon as the on-board systems detect the enemy radar, the aircraft performs an anti-aircraft manoeuvre and tries to break the distance. For the GEM-T (PAC-2) anti-aircraft missiles, the no-fly zone is estimated at 110 km, which is 50 km less than the maximum range. That is, to ensure a guaranteed kill, it is necessary to pull the Patriot even closer and place it almost on the border, analysts say.
Ukrainian soldiers of National Guard with small arms destroyed a cruise missile of Russia
Representatives of the National Guard reported that on 29 December, a mobile firing group of the 27th Pechersk Brigade downed a Russian army cruise missile heading towards Kyiv.
Having spotted the target moving towards Kyiv, the National Guard opened fire with machine guns. After inspecting the wreckage, it turned out that the strike had detonated the missile's fuel tanks, causing it to lose control and crash. The warhead did not explode, the National Guard said in a statement.
More on the topic
- Category
- Ukraine
- Publication date
- Додати до обраного
