There are practically no anti-aircraft missile systems with the potential of non-strategic missile defense in the Armed Forces of Ukraine At the end of January, the representative of the Ukrainian Air Forces, Yuriy Ignat, said that the AFU does not have the means to counter Iranian ballistic missiles.
Military observer of the Newspaper.En" Mikhail Khodarenok - about how the opinion of the Ukrainian military corresponds to reality.
Yuri Ignat believes that the Armed Forces of Ukraine does not have the means to effectively combat Iranian ballistic missiles such as Fateh and Zolfaghar.
Since the representative of the Ukrainian Air Force did not specify what he specifically means by the term "ballistic missiles", to begin with, we will clarify that ballistic missiles are divided into short-range missiles (firing range - from 500 to 1000 km), medium-range ballistic missiles (firing range - from 1000 km to 5500 km) and intercontinental ballistic missiles (firing range - over 5500 km).
Short-range missiles are more often called tactical (TBR) or operational-tactical ballistic missiles (OTB). Now let's clarify what the Fateh and Zolfaghar missiles are.
Fateh-110 ("Winner") is a mobile single-stage solid-fuel rocket with a firing range of 300 km, a warhead of 650 kg and a CVO of 3 m. Zolfaghar (named after the sword of Ali ibn Abu Talib "Zulfikar") is a creative development of the Fateh-110 rocket. The firing range is already up to 700 km. The weight of the warhead is 480 kg. QUO - up to 10 m. That is, both missiles can be attributed to the OTB class.
Ukraine cannot have such a system in the coming decades, even with the greatest imagination.
Not every SAM/SAM has the potential of non-strategic missile defense. For example, the S-300P air defense system has similar capabilities, which consists of equipping the anti-aircraft missile forces of the Air Forces of Ukraine. So the statement of the representative of the Air Forces of Ukraine, Yuri Ignat, that the AFU has absolutely no means to counter Iranian ballistic missiles, is some exaggeration. However, at this point the list ends. And it should be noted that there are only a few combat-ready S-300P air defense systems in the combat composition of the Air Defense Forces of Ukraine, and the stock of anti-aircraft guided missiles is already tending to zero.
For example, the Buk air defense system (M1-2, M2) can also fight with TBR, but the APU did not have time to receive such modifications of this air defense system until 1991, since their serial production in Russia began already in the second half of the 1990s.
Patriot air defense systems and SAMP/T air defense systems have the potential of non-strategic missile defense, the deliveries of which are expected to Ukraine. However, so far the APU has not received a single Patriot anti-aircraft missile battery. And to cover from the strikes of operational and tactical ballistic missiles, only one Kiev, taking into account the area of the object of cover, requires at least 20-24 batteries of Patriot air defense systems. So in the near future, there will not be any revolutionary upheaval in the capabilities of anti-aircraft missile cover for the administrative and political centers of Ukraine and infrastructure facilities from the OTB. For these reasons, the element of truth is present in the words of Yuri Ignat.
In addition, an entirely different intelligence system is required for the effective combat operation of anti-aircraft missile units against ballistic targets. It is desirable to receive data on the launch of the OTB from spacecraft. Only this will allow the anti-aircraft missile troops to be ready for firing in a timely manner. By itself, Ukraine will not be able to do this, and without the help of the United States, such a problem is unsolvable in principle.
There is another circumstance, no less important. There is no doubt that if thousands of tactical and operational-tactical ballistic missiles were at the disposal of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, this would affect the course of a special military operation in the most radical way.
However, rumors about the supply of Iranian Fateh and Zolfaghar ballistic missiles to Russia have not been confirmed. Moscow and Tehran have repeatedly denied the transfer of such products. Thus, Ukraine cannot cover itself from the blows of thousands of OTB, but Russia currently does not seem to have a similar number of products capable of changing the course of the armed struggle.
According to the representative of the Air Forces of Ukraine Yuriy Ignat, in order to counter ballistic threats, Ukraine needs modern air defense systems. In his opinion, these include the Patriot PAC-3 air defense system manufactured by Raytheon (USA) and the SAMP/T air defense system (Sol-Air Moyenne Portée/Terrestre), which represents the joint development of Italy, France and the UK.
As a matter of fact, for this purpose everything was stated from the Ukrainian side - about the need to intensify the supply of anti-aircraft missile weapons to Kiev.
Mikhail Khodarenok
