Launches of anti-aircraft guided missiles by the Ukrainian Patriot air defense system could be carried out by diverting interference Patriot anti-aircraft missile system (SAM) lost all 32 missiles while trying to shoot down the Russian hypersonic missile "Dagger".
In this tone, Military Watch Magazine (MWM) writes about it. Why the SAM began to fire at false air objects one by one, having spent all the missiles, the military observer of the Newspaper understood.En" Mikhail Khodarenok.
Some domestic experts came to the conclusion that the American Patriot transferred to Ukraine used all the ammunition in an attempt to shoot down one Russian hypersonic missile. At the same time, 32 missiles fired from eight launchers were used up.
Incredible scenarios
It is hardly possible to analyze and characterize in detail the combat work of the Patriot anti-aircraft missile system of the Air Forces of Ukraine - there is too little initial data. For analysis, we need a second-by-second timing of combat work and objective control materials. The first thing that is surprising is how thirty-two anti-aircraft guided missiles can really be launched in such a short period of time? To begin with, we recall that the Patriot multi-functional AN/MPQ-53 radar simultaneously accompanies six targets and directs twelve missiles at them. Let's imagine a situation that the Patriot air defense system discovered a "Dagger", captured it for escort and fired two missiles at it (it is no longer possible, this is how the system works). And it is already unrealistic to re-fire the target because of the small stay in the affected area of such a high-speed target as the Dagger.
Well, in this case, let's imagine that the combat crew "multiplied" (as the rocket men put it) the captured target through the rest of the channels (there is also such a variant of combat work). But even in this case, more than twelve missiles at the same time can not be aimed at one target ("Dagger"). Even if we assume that the APU had the latest modification of the Patriot air defense system - an eight-channel target and a sixteen-channel missile, so it still turns out 16 missiles, but certainly not 32.
It is also difficult to imagine a situation in which 16 targets entered the zone of destruction of one battery almost simultaneously and Patriot consistently worked on them with the expenditure of two missiles for each air object (only then 32 missiles are obtained at the output). Such cases simply do not happen in reality.
"Full automatic" mode
Why did the Ukrainian Patriot shoot like a machine gun and release its ammunition in a matter of seconds?
A modern anti-aircraft missile system (including Patriot) can operate in the automatic launch mode of anti-aircraft guided missiles. That is, the system itself automatically captures the target for tracking, puts the missiles on preparation itself (issues supply voltages to the missile defense system), and launches the missile itself when the target enters the affected area. Previously, this was not the case, the launch of the missile defense system was carried out manually by combat calculation (by simply pressing the "Start" button with your finger).
It is quite possible that the events in the sky of Kiev developed according to the following scenario: in that very raid, a jammer, made on the basis of the same product, was ahead of the GZKR "Dagger", and put interference to the multifunctional radar AN/ MPQ-53 Patriot air defense system, leading away in speed and range. That is, there was an impression (both for the system and for the operators) that another air object was separating from the accompanied target.
And in this case, the air defense system has (and Patriot also has) an automatic capture system for tracking separating targets. When entering the affected area of such objects, they are fired upon. This was done primarily to combat such aircraft weapons as anti-radar missiles of the AGM-88 HARM type.
And since the director worked continuously during his flight, and the imaginary targets multiplied and multiplied, the Ukrainian calculation turned its Patriot into an automatic machine and the anti-aircraft missile system began firing at false air objects one by one.
This explains the exceptionally high rate of combat firing and the total consumption of missiles, which was demonstrated by Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile launchers. There really were a lot of targets, all of them were in the affected area, but these were imaginary aerial objects.
What happened then, after the ammunition was completely used up? Initially, a jammer fell on the starting position of the Patriot air defense system, and then a real "Dagger" followed him at a distance of 5-10 km. It is quite possible that this explains the difference in the power of explosions at the position of the anti-aircraft missile system (after all, two explosions were recorded by surveillance cameras).
In favor of this version is also evidenced by the fact that on the streets of Kiev after this stormy night, a lot of anti-aircraft guided missiles from Patriot air defense systems of the ERINT type (or rather, anti-missiles) were found. The fact is that this product is not equipped with a high-explosive fragmentation warhead, but is designed for kinetic interception of ballistic targets. In other words, the ERINT anti-missile simply does not have a self-destruct mode. If this product does not meet the target, then it falls to the ground almost intact.
That is, for the "full automatic" mode, the Patriot anti-aircraft missile system can definitely be given an excellent rating. And everything else has yet to be sorted out.
Mikhail Khodarenok
