2023-05-18 18:43:05
Patriot vs. Kinschal
Battle in the sky over Kiev – “this is just the beginning”
During the night there was another heavy air raid over Kiev. Russia’s missiles are specifically looking for something very specific.
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The explosion of a rocket over Kiev on May 18, 2023.
REUTERS
The Patriot anti-aircraft missile system. This stands for Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept on Target (pictured: A Patriot system at Sliac Airport near Zvolen, Slovakia in May 2022).
REUTERS
It is used to combat aircraft, tactical ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. Here is part of the German convoy transporting the mobile surface-to-air missile systems to Poland at the end of January.
REUTERS
Russia’s primary target is the Patriot system’s radar. Because the radar device is its heart: it transmits targets that are analyzed by the computer and displayed to the soldiers.
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At the same time, the radar is also the system’s Achilles’ heel, as it emits massive electromagnetic signals that are easy to locate.
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The Patriot fire control station monitors and controls the radar and launch devices.
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The guided missiles are contained in the transport, storage and launch containers.
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The entire system is hardly mobile or it takes time to move it from one location to another. No wonder: …
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An entire battery covers an entire square kilometer and it takes up to 30 soldiers to operate launch pads, control systems and radars.
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On Thursday night there was another wave of Russian air raids on Kiev.
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Anti-aircraft units destroyed 29 of the 30 cruise missiles launched by Russia.
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Four drones were also shot down, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.
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The series of attacks is no accident.
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Russia is looking for a weak point in Ukraine’s air defenses – and is chasing the western Patriot defense system.
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There are risks for both sides.
It was the second night this week that Russia and Ukraine fought an explosive battle around four o’clock in the skies over Kiev: attacks from cruise missiles and drones fired from land, sea, and air, defenses arguably primarily provided by the Western-supplied Patriot anti-aircraft system (you can understand how that sounds and feels read here).
The Ukrainian army speaks of another “unprecedented” wave of Russian airstrikes on the capital Kiev and other regions. Air defense units destroyed 29 of the 30 cruise missiles fired and shot down four drones. It was the ninth Russian airstrike on Kiev this month.
Russia is specifically looking for Patriots
Russia is not targeting the Ukrainian capital, its residents, or hard or critical targets such as military facilities, government buildings, or power plants.
Rather, air defense experts in Russia and in the West agree: Russia is specifically looking for weaknesses in Ukraine’s air defenses – and is aiming for the destruction of the Patriot defense batteries in the Kiev area.
Just a matter of time
It seems, and the experts also agree on this, that it is only a matter of time before this succeeds. A Patriot defense system was already hit during the first attack early Tuesday morning: “destroyed” according to Moscow, “damaged” according to Washington, who later said that the battery was still operational and did not have to be taken out of the country for repairs.
It comes as no surprise that Russia wants to shut down the Patriot system. Moscow also announced this quite officially when it became clear that they had delivered Patriots to Ukraine.
Easy to locate
The systems are also easy to find: “Their radars emit a massive electromagnetic signature that is not difficult to detect and locate,” writes military technology magazine The Drive.
In addition, the system is not mobile or it takes time to bring it to another location. No wonder: an entire battery covers an entire square kilometer and it takes up to 30 soldiers to operate launch pads, control systems and radars.
«Absolute Rocket Magnets»
“There was no doubt that these batteries would become absolute rocket magnets,” writes The Drive. Not only because of their enormous anti-aircraft capabilities, but also because of the symbolic value that the Patriots represented: the support of the United States and its allies to Ukraine through donations of modern weapons.
After all, every missile fired at the Patriot battery is one less against other Ukrainian targets. And yet it can be assumed that the heavy Russian air raids against Kiev with its Patriot air defenses are “just the beginning”, as “The Drive” continues to write. “We should be prepared for a Patriot battery to be damaged or parts of it destroyed.” Because Russia has been working for decades to defeat exactly this system.
NATO roster includes thousands of Patriots
Yet Patriot defenses and the men who operate them are vital to Kiev and other major Ukrainian cities, especially now that Ukraine’s Soviet-era defense systems are running low on ammunition.
At the same time, Moscow should also be aware: the Patriot batteries are located at the most heavily defended locations in Kiev. In order to not only damage the air defense systems, but actually disable them permanently, Russia has to deploy significant quantities of its most modern and expensive missiles.
First and foremost the kinshawls, of which there are said to be only a very limited number (information on the production date found on rubble suggests this). And even if there are losses in the Patriot interceptors, they could be replaced with relative ease, given that NATO’s collective roster is in the thousands.
An industrial building in Odessa was badly damaged.
REUTERS
The recent Russian airstrikes were not only aimed at Kiev. One person was killed in an attack on an industrial site in the port city of Odessa on the Black Sea on Thursday night. Two other people were injured, according to the military administration in the region.
According to the army, there were also attacks with cruise missiles in the Vinnytsia region inland. Local media also reported explosions in Khmelnytskyi about a hundred kilometers to the west.
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