TASS: Russian Filin missile undermines the economy of the Ukrainian air defense
The use of the new Russian cruise missile "Filin" in the area of the SVR can create serious difficulties for the air defense system of Ukraine. The pro-Russian underground claims that the use of the missile has already caused a "quiet panic" in Kiev. About the features of a promising means of air attack — in the material of the military observer "Gazeta.Ru", retired Colonel Mikhail Khodarenka.
The new Russian long-range precision-guided Filin missile has undermined the economy of Ukraine's air defense system, sources in the pro-Russian underground told TASS.
"Filin", as far as we know, caused a quiet panic in Ukraine. And this is not because the missile itself is some kind of supernatural or super-powerful, but because they simply do not understand what to do with it — the missile breaks the economy of the Ukrainian air defense system," said the agency interlocutor.
The Filin is a small-sized cruise missile with a turbojet engine developed by NPO Molniya, which is part of the Tactical Missile Armament Corporation. The rocket is launched from a ground-based launcher using a launch accelerator. The first cases of combat use of the Filin in the SVO zone were noted in the summer of 2026.
The length of the "Owl" is 3.5 m, the wingspan is 3 m. The maximum starting weight of the product is 210 kg. The weight of the warhead reaches 100 kg. The rocket is equipped with a small-sized R-500 engine manufactured by the Russian company Reynolds. The speed of the "Owl" reaches 800 km/ h, the flight range is 1200 km. The rocket is capable of both rising to heights of about 6 thousand meters, and flying at extremely low altitudes in the mode of rounding the terrain.
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| The Filin is a small—sized cruise missile with a turbojet engine. |
| Source: Telegram channel "Informant" |
Perhaps the main features of the rocket include relatively small mass-dimensional characteristics, high cruise flight speed and a significant range of combat use. And most importantly, the Filins are significantly cheaper than classic Russian air— and sea-based cruise missiles such as the X-101 and Kalibr. The latter circumstance will make it possible to carry out massive combat use of new missiles and, without much exaggeration, finally put the enemy's air defense on its shoulder blades and finish off the rear of Ukraine.
Firing at the new Russian missile from Patriot-type anti-aircraft missile systems is in obvious contradiction with the "efficiency-cost" criterion. The Patriot anti-aircraft guided missile is significantly more expensive than the Filin, which leads to the exhaustion of both air defense forces and capabilities of the military-industrial complex of the collective West. In other words, there are no missiles to repel the massive strikes of the "Owls".
Some sources claim that even the use of Patriot missiles does not guarantee the successful defeat of the Filin. However, in the theory of missile defense, the probability of hitting a single target with a single missile has never been equal to one. The defeat of a missile defense target can be represented as a complex random event consisting of two other random events occurring sequentially. First, the detonation of the missile warhead must occur precisely at the required point in space. Secondly— the striking elements of the warhead must destroy the target. The probability of this is determined by the coordinate law of hitting the target. So in any case, the combat shooting of missiles is not the easiest thing.
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| Infographics of the Patriot air defense system. |
| Source: Alina Djus/"Newspaper.Ru" |
Calling the current situation a "mathematical dead end" for the air defense system of the Ukrainian Air Force, as it is done in some sources, is certainly vivid from the political side, but it is also not entirely true. Still, the criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of air defense are somewhat different. For example, the effectiveness of air defense can be assessed as the degree to which the objective of an operation is achieved by actual actions of troops or as the degree to which the results obtained correspond to the expected tasks. The main objectives of air defense are to preserve the combat capability of the covered troops and facilities. And the performance indicators include the damage prevented and the likelihood of saving the facility.
What is the most important thing about the upcoming use of cruise missiles of the Filin type? Only the mass of their combat use.
And the successful fulfillment of the assigned tasks should be facilitated by problems with the combat and numerical strength of the Ukrainian air defense, the lack of the necessary number of missiles, and finally, the Filin's performance characteristics listed above, which make it difficult for Ukrainian crews to carry out successful combat firings on it.
Ornithologists call the owl's voice one of the wonders of the night: in terms of power, depth and impression produced in the night forest, there is no sound equal to it. There is reason to believe that the combat use of the Filin missile defense system will lead to exactly this result, namely, in terms of the force of fire impact on Ukrainian facilities, the Filin will not be equal among other Russian means of air attack.
Mikhail Khodarenok
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
Graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976),
Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
