The main priority of Ukraine's MOD for 2024 is strengthening Ukraine's air defense shield, including the production of missile systems of the "Coral" type.
Ukrainian missile defense system "Coral": what is known
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the Ministry of Strategic Industries will increase the production of missiles, ammunition, weapons and military equipment several times next year.
The primary attention will be devoted to producing air defense equipment. It is from conventional portable missile systems to air defense systems with a range of more than 100 km (such as the Koral air defense system).
Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Ivan Havrylyuk, announced this on the air of the United News telethon.
"Luch" Design Bureau started work on the project back in 2016. For the first time, the model of the guided anti-aircraft missile of the "Coral" complex was demonstrated in 2021, together with other products of the state enterprise.
CEO of "Luch" Design Bureau, Oleg Korostelyov, said earlier that the “Coral” uniqueness is that only tried-and-tested components are used during development.
Among the capabilities of the rocket:
flight range — 30-40 kilometres;
length — 4.33 meters;
maximum diameter — 260 mm;
weight — 300 kg, of which 25 are for the combat part;
height — at that time "in the booklets" was defined as 10 kilometres.
Due to its uniformity, "Coral" can be used from land and sea platforms, including attaching to aircraft as an air-to-air missile.
During the "Weapons and Security-21" exhibition, it was revealed that Luch DB was working on a line of missile systems with ranges of 10, 30-40 and 100 km at that time.
As of mid-2021, the Luch Design Bureau chief said that the readiness of the medium-range complex is about 70% in his opinion.
As Defense Express wrote, the ground version of "Coral" corresponds to the concept of a "light" MAPADS with a "small-medium" radius of action. Air defence systems can be assigned to cover specific objects, such as air bases, ports, industrial centres, etc.
Due to its slight weight and length, the missile can technically be used as an air-to-air missile. For example, the Su-27 missile, depending on the version, has a weight of up to 350 kilograms and a height of up to 4.8 meters.
In particular, in the case of integration with a fighter, the missile range can increase.
"Coral" is capable of destroying any aerodynamic targets, as an example:
helicopters;
aircraft;
UAV and drones
In particular, this missile can be used against ballistic missiles, or ground or surface targets.
What protects Ukraine today from ballistic missiles?
The main problem with ballistic missiles (for example, "Iskanders" or "Kinzhals") is that in the final section, they fly almost vertically and at huge targets. Due to these conditions, the NASAMS and IRIS-T complexes or the Ukrainian S-300 cannot effectively counter them.
The principle of action of surface-to-air (SAM) missiles is detonation near the object of interception. In this case, the ballistic missile receives only partial damage. Still, thanks to the heavy warhead, it will achieve the necessary damage even if it deviates tens of meters from the target.
Anti-ballistic capabilities are currently insufficient to secure the entire country simultaneously.
As of November 2023, it is known that the following are on combat duty:
one SAMP-T system;
two Patriot divisions.
At the same time, the delivery of another Patriot complex from Germany is expected.
Against the background of how Patriot dispelled the myth about the impossibility of shooting down the "Kinzhal", there is currently no data on the SAMP-T missile system results. As the former deputy chief of the AFU General Staff, Ihor Romanenko, explained, France and Italy do not want to spread information of this kind.
