Ukraine says Russia’s unstoppable hypersonic missiles have had another bad night

• Ukraine said it has destroyed almost all the hypersonic missiles that Russia fired in a major weekend attack.

• Russia has touted its hypersonic weapons, such as the Kinzhal and Zirkon, as effectively unstoppable.

• Ukraine has shown this to be untrue, but interception rates are still low.

Ukraine’s military said it has destroyed nearly all the hypersonic missiles launched by Russia over the weekend as part of a massive bombardment.

Ukraine said Russia fired eight Kh-47M2 Kinzhal missiles and one 3M22 Zirkon missile as part of a barrage that began on Saturday evening and consisted of 210 missiles and drones of various types.

Kiev’s air force said its defenders shot down more than 140 rounds of ammunition that were part of the attack, including seven from the Kinzhals and the only Zirkon.

The alleged success of Ukrainian air defenses in the battle marks the latest blow to the reputation of Russian hypersonic weapons, which Moscow has touted as highly advanced systems that are essentially unstoppable. Kiev has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to shoot them down.

The Kinzhal (Russian for “dagger”) is an advanced air-launched ballistic missile based on the ground-launched Iskander, which Moscow claims is a hypersonic weapon. This is misleading because while it can reach hypersonic speeds – at least five times the speed of sound – and possesses some degree of maneuverability, it lacks crucial features that allow it to be classified as such.

The Kinzhal, which Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled in 2018, can carry a conventional explosive payload reportedly weighing about 1,000 pounds, but it is also a nuclear weapon.

The Zircon, sometimes spelled Tsirkon, is a ship-launched missile that Russian officials claim can reach a speed of almost 12,000 km per hour. It has a range of more than 900 kilometers and entered service with the Moscow army last year. The weapon has seen considerably less combat than the Kinzhal. The first use in Ukraine, which was determined from fragments, was in February.

Although the Kinzhal missile can be launched from Russian aircraft such as the MiG-31 and bombers, the Zircon has so far been limited to frigates of the Russian Navy, Admiral Gorshkov. However, Russia has tested the weapon on submarines and is investigating other platforms. There appear to be no launch pads in the Black Sea, but there are some other possible options. Business Insider could not independently verify Ukraine’s claims that the weapon was used.

Ukraine has several air defense systems that it says are capable of downing Russia’s hypersonic missiles, including the French/Italian SAMP-T and the US MIM-104 Patriot battery. Kiev has repeatedly asked its Western supporters for more of these systems to defend the country against attacks like last weekend’s.

Analysts have said that Ukraine’s ability to shoot down Russia’s advanced weapons, including its self-proclaimed hypersonic missiles, could provide both Kiev and NATO with significant intelligence. These are top-of-the-line systems from a range of weapons sometimes described as Putin’s “superweapons.”

Although Russia’s hypersonic missiles have so far failed to live up to the Kremlin’s hype that they are unstoppable, Ukrainian interception rates for these weapons are still relatively low compared to other munitions such as drones and more traditional cruise missiles, underscoring the challenge.

Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi revealed in August that Russia had launched 111 Kinzhal missiles since the start of the war in February 2022 and that Kiev had managed to shoot down 28 of them – an interception rate of just 25%.

Syrskyi said Russia had used the Zircon missile only six times. Two of the munitions were shot down, while the other four hit civilian targets, Ukrainian media said. The statistics on interceptions of these missiles now appear higher, but only slightly.

The Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German research institute, notes that data on hypersonic missile interception rates is scarce.

“Ukraine claims a 25% interception rate for hypersonic Kinzhal and Zircon missiles, but Ukrainian sources also indicate that such interceptions would require a salvo firing all 32 launchers in a US-style Patriot battery to have any chance of to shoot down a single hypersonic missile,” the institute said. wrote in a September report.

It is unclear how often this situation occurs, but reported claims indicate that these attacks place enormous strain on Ukraine’s already strained air defenses, potentially depleting entire batteries with no guarantee of success. It further emphasizes the importance of air defense. Lockheed Martin, maker of the Patriot, recently announced that it is preparing to dramatically increase production of PAC-3 interceptors again amid growing demand.

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