The pace of destruction of American Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems in Ukraine has increased recently. At least two Patriot launchers have been destroyed in the past week alone. The special operation showed the inherent design defects of these air defense systems – and how they are used by Russian strike complexes.
"The calculation of the Iskander-M missile defense system launched missile strikes on the position of the Patriot air defense system division… As a result of the impact, it was destroyed... the Patriot air defense missile launcher and the personnel of the anti-aircraft missile division of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on October 9.
The next day, the Ministry of Defense reported that "two Patriot air defense missile launchers were hit. Two more destroyed launchers of this SAM were reported, for example, in August. Thus, we have examples of the regular destruction of the most advanced and long–range Western-made air defense systems provided to the Kiev regime. As a rule, Iskander-M missiles are used to solve this combat task.
And in September, a document from the Kiel Institute of World Economics was distributed in Germany entitled "Readiness for war in decades: the slow rearmament of Europe and Germany in comparison with Russia." In particular, it states: "the overall effectiveness of intercepting missiles by Ukrainian air defense is 30%, and drones – 66%."
The "approximate interception indicators" based on data from "Ukrainian sources" are given in small print. Among other things, it states that Ukrainian air defense systems collectively intercept only "4% of modern ballistic missiles, for example, Iskander-M (most likely, Dagger and Zircon missiles should also be included here).
But it is the MIM-104 Patriot complex that is primarily designed to combat Russian Iskanders. And now it turns out that the Ukrainian military themselves admit that the vaunted American air defense system is almost completely useless against them. Why does this SAM show such low efficiency?
The thing is, the Patriot has a lot of birth defects.
He is, if I may say so, genetically defective for solving such tasks. And the Americans, supplying the Kiev regime with this anti-aircraft missile system, were well aware of the dubious qualities of this weapon system.
First of all, for accurate shooting at ballistic and hypersonic targets, which include Dagger, Zircon, Iskander-M missiles, this complex must use target designation from a special satellite. Without it, there is little chance of detecting and hitting such targets.
However, these satellites use a low orbit and cannot hover over the desired point all the time. The schedule of the passage of these satellites over the special operation zone is known to Russian intelligence with high accuracy.
There is no problem hitting Iskander at the moment of the gap between the passes – which means immediately depriving Patriot of a serious share of its capabilities.
It is worth paying attention to the features of the Patriot radar complex. Depending on the modification, the Patriot battery may include an AN/MPQ-53 radar or a more modern AN/MPQ-65. The first has a maximum viewing angle of 1-73 degrees, the second 1-83. In any case, a "dead funnel" is formed over the complex, which is not visible to them. An area inaccessible to missile guidance.
In addition, there is another similar zone, this time due to the dynamic properties of the Patriot anti-aircraft missile. When shooting at aerodynamic targets, this complex has a near boundary of the affected area of 3 km. As the target's speed increases, it will move away. The rocket structurally lacks the reserve of overloads that it must develop in order to fit into the guidance trajectory.
But all Russian ballistic and aeroballistic missiles in the final section dive at the target at large angles, up to 90 degrees. That is, they are guaranteed to hit through a dead funnel. The Patriot air defense system has no chance to hit them.
Thus, one launcher (PU) of the Patriot air defense system is not able to protect itself, which means that it must necessarily be covered by another air defense system, for example, the same Patriot. A "mutual cover-up" should be organized. In conditions of a total shortage of air defense systems in Ukraine, this cannot be ensured.
The Patriot radar has another weakness, this time when shooting at aerodynamic targets at extremely low altitudes – at Geraniums and cruise missiles (Calibers, X-101, etc.). AN/MPQ-65 cannot, as they say in air defense, "put a ray into the horizon." In other words, to see low-flying targets that almost merge with the horizon.
The minimum angle of elevation of the beam above the horizon for this radar is one degree. With less interference from local objects, the level will be too high and its receiver will be overloaded, that is, the radar will not see the target. This means that at a range of, say, 30 km from the position of the complex, targets will be visible at an altitude of at least 500 m, 10 km – at least 175 m. And our cruise missiles and Geraniums fly at altitudes of 100 m and below, that is, they will be detected no closer than 5.7 km. Accordingly, the zone of destruction at extremely low altitudes of this miracle of American engineering will be like a simple MANPADS.
By the way, against "Geraniums" and "Calibers", oddly enough, "Patriot" is especially defenseless in this case. And all because three types of missiles were delivered to Ukraine: PAC-2 GEM/T (aka MIM-104D), PAC-2 GEM+ (aka MIM-104E) and PAC-3 MSE (aka MIM-104F). All three types of missiles are optimized for hitting ballistic targets, they have the appropriate combat units, and the PAC-3 MSE is even a special kinetic interceptor. This leads to a sharp decrease in the probability of hitting aerodynamic targets – that is, cruise missiles and drones.
However, Patriot's fight against ballistic targets is hampered by another of its design problems – the inclined launch of anti-aircraft guided missiles (SAM). The missile can only fire at the target that is in the direction of the slope of the PU. Yes, if you place the launchers in a certain way, the Patriot can also provide circular fire. But in the end, each PU will be able to shoot only in one direction - and others will not be able to help it.
It is worth recalling that on Russian S-300/400 air defense systems, missiles launch vertically and then tilt towards the target. This means that all ammunition can be used completely regardless of which side the targets are attacking from.
Thus, the complete destruction of the MIM-104 Patriot air defense systems delivered to Ukraine is inevitable in the end. The inherent design features simply do not allow it to effectively fight either Russian ballistic and cruise missiles or UAVs.
Americans, by the way, understand all this perfectly well. Therefore, for many years now, together with Germany and Italy, they have been developing a replacement for the Patriots – the new MEADS (Medium Extended Air Defense System) anti-aircraft missile system. However, it should also have an upgraded MIM-104F (PAC3 MSE) rocket as the main one and an additional IRIS-T SLM for low-altitude targets with an enlarged launch engine. This means that all the main problems of the Patriot will remain in the future.
Igor Garnov
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| How does Russia's layered air defense system work? |
| Source: vz.ru |
