Has Ukraine actually managed to do what most military experts thought impossible? Now the American Pentagon probably also believes that Ukraine could have shot down a Russian Kinzhal.
When the Ukrainian specialist magazine “Defense Express” announced last week that the Ukrainian military had shot down a Russian Kinzhal-type hypersonic missile, many experts were surprised. After all, it would have been the first time that such a maneuver was successful. It would also be a real coup in the Ukraine war – and a major setback for Russia’s dictator Vladimir Putin and his military forces. So far, however, there has been no confirmation of the supposed success of Ukrainian air defense.
Now the USA is stepping in and is convinced that it is possible to use a Patriot air defense system to bring down a kinshah from the sky, as claimed by Ukraine. So far it was not known that the Patriot system can also intercept missiles launched from the air, i.e. missiles carried by aircraft. The experts at the American Secretary of Defense were impressed by the incident, as reported by the broadcaster CNN.
It would be the destruction of a Russian myth
The Kinzhal, or dagger in English, is considered one of the best missiles the Russian military has at its disposal. According to Russian information, it remains maneuverable even in fast and high flight. According to NATO, the missiles can hardly or only with great difficulty be intercepted with anti-aircraft or anti-missile systems. The Austrian military expert Gustav Gressel was one of the first experts who considered the launch of the Russian hypersonic missile by a Patriot anti-aircraft system to be possible. Now the military strategists in the Pentagon are apparently also convinced that Ukraine has once again surpassed itself in this war.
The Ukrainian troops have already shown their enormous inventiveness with numerous other weapon systems. At the beginning of the war, for example, they converted hobby drones into dangerous offensive weapons or managed to fire US missiles from the air, which are actually incompatible with Ukrainian fighter jets.
The supposed shooting down of the Kinschal would be one of the greatest military successes so far in the war that has been going on for more than 14 months, tantamount to the destruction of a Russian myth, according to the headline in the newspaper “Defense Express”. Because according to the dictator Putin, the hypersonic missile Kinzhal should not be able to be defended by any air defense system in the world.
