Ukraine says it "shot down 5 Russian military planes in 5 minutes with Patriot"

Ukraine nói từng bắn rơi 5 máy bay quân sự Nga trong 5 phút bằng Patriot - 1 — Patriot air defense system (Photo: Wikipedia).

Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yury Ignat said on November 27 that his country used Patriot air defense systems to shoot down three Mi-8 helicopters, a Su-34 fighter jet and a Su-35 in Russia's Bryansk region in May.

In an interview with Novynarnia , Mr. Ignat spoke about the incident on May 13.

"An excellent operation under the command of the Air Force commander. Thanks to unique and decisive tactics, Ukrainian Patriot air defense missile systems shot down five Russian aircraft within five minutes over Bryansk, when these weapons were ambushed in the northern region of Ukraine," he said.

After the May 13 incident, Mr. Ignat said that Ukraine continued to cause damage to Russian aircraft, forcing Moscow to change its air combat tactics.

"Patriot shot down a Su-35 over the Black Sea. After that, Russia stopped flying aircraft in this area for a while because they realized this was a dangerous area," he said.

Russia has not commented on Ukraine's statements.

Mr. Ignat emphasized the importance of Patriot complexes in Ukraine's air defense operations, including shooting down Russian missiles, including the Kinzhal hypersonic missile in May.

However, at that time, a source in the Russian Ministry of Defense denied this information because he believed that the speed of the Kinzhal hypersonic missile exceeded the maximum speed of the Patriot interceptor missile.

The source said Kinzhal is capable of avoiding missiles in the final flight phase and attacking targets vertically, making it impossible for current surface-to-air systems to shoot it down.

The United States was the first to announce that it would deliver the Patriot system to Ukraine in December 2022 as part of a military aid package. In addition, the Netherlands announced that it would also provide Ukraine with the Patriot system and some interceptor missiles. In March, Ukrainian military personnel completed Patriot operation training ahead of schedule.

Patriot is a multi-purpose, mobile, ground-based missile defense system designed to protect major administrative and industrial centers, naval and air bases from all means of air attack. It can detect, track and destroy drones, cruise missiles and operational-tactical ballistic missiles.

Patriot missiles have a fairly sophisticated guidance mechanism: the first phase - by inertia, the middle phase - by bullet tracking mechanism, the final phase - using active radar to lock the target.

Patriot has many variants: MIM-104A, MIM-104B (PAC-1), MIM-104C (PAC-2), MIM-104D (PAC-2-GEM), MILM-104F (PAC-3), with combat range from 30-170km depending on variant.

The missiles are mounted on a high-mobility launcher vehicle carrying 4 Patriot PAC-2 missiles or 16 Patriot PAC-3 missiles. The firepower vehicles always maintain contact with the AN/MSQ-104 command complex, the distance between the component vehicles can be up to 10km, helping Patriot to defend a very large area and minimize losses if the enemy attacks the battlefield.

It is unclear why Mr. Ignat is only now talking about Ukraine using Patriots to shoot down a plane over Russian territory. Ukraine mentioned the incident in July but did not mention the deployment of Patriots.

The US has not commented on Mr. Ignat's announcement. The Drive believes that Mr. Ignat's information is somewhat sensitive because the US has repeatedly stated that it will not allow Ukraine to fire its own weapons into Russian territory, for fear that tensions will escalate beyond control.

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