Russia celebrates its hypersonic missiles as miracle weapons. One of them is the ballistic missile Kinzhal Kh-47. The Kremlin has considered that in the past „unstoppbar“ designated for western weapons.
But now one such missile has been successfully stopped, reports the Ukrainian website Defense Express. Photos of the crashed debris were also published there. If the photos and information are genuine, this would be the first confirmed Kinzhal shootdown in Ukraine.
Warhead exploded in mid-air
The Kinzhal is scheduled to embark on May 4th at around 02:40 a.m Kyiv to have been caught. At the time, residents reported a strong explosion – but without an impact. This may be related to the fact that the Kinzhal’s warhead detonated during mid-air interception.
The debris has crashed in a stadium. The photos show that the shape of the debris corresponds to the components of the Kinzhal. The shape of the parts looks similar to the Russian Iskander hypersonic missile, but it is thicker.
One photo shows an impact in the Kinzhal’s hull. This shows how thick the casing is so that the rocket can withstand the high temperatures that arise during hypersonic flight. This and possibly other impacts may have been the reason that the warhead exploded in flight and the rocket could be intercepted.
Defence-ua.com received these images of the wreckage of a supposed Kh-47 Kinzhal
© Defence Express
Kinzhal slows down before the goal
The Kh-47 Kinzhal is launched from the air, such as by MiG-31 jets and the Tu-22 bomber. The cruise missile can be equipped with conventional and nuclear warheads. Russia claims the range is up to 2,000 kilometers. It is said to reach speeds of Mach 10, which is around 12,000 km/h.
That’s too fast for currently available intercepts, such as surface-to-air missiles. However, the rocket will slow down in the final target approach. At hypersonic speeds (more than Mach 5), steering to the target would be too imprecise. This is also due to the fact that at high speeds, interfering fluxes occur at the mantle, which impair satellite signals such as those from GLONASS (the Russian equivalent of GPS).
Shot probably by Patriot system
Since the intercepted missile was probably aimed at Kiev, it was in the final aiming phase when it was launched. It is not known how the Kinzhal was destroyed. It was probably a Patriot system.
The US-built surface-to-air missile systems arrived in Ukraine on April 19, so they have only recently become operational. Depending on the missile launched by Patriot, the range against ballistic missiles like the Kinzhal is up to 60 kilometers. The Patriot missiles can reach a maximum speed of up to Mach 4.1.
