[Goose]

Good article that accurately enumerates what missiles Ukraine currently has the ability to engage with a good probability of success and also which ones it cannot defend against.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/air-force-spe...40778.html

The term "ballistic" missile is not literally applicable to hardly any Russian missiles in use today, because they all can maneuver in at least one phase of their trajectory, even if it is only the warhead itself that maneuvers. That makes statements about the ability of the Patriot to shoot them down dependent on lots of things. The 40 km number in the article is dependent on the kinetic energy available to the interceptor and to what extent the target can actually evade. Kh-22s generally don't maneuver before the dive onto the target, so they can be shot down at longer ranges. However, since you can predict where they are going, the Patriot will wait until it has the "best" geometry for the intercept, UNLESS there is a high value target on or near the flight path before the best geometry is reached. Obviously the Patriot was not originally designed to shoot down anti-ship missiles. I am pretty sure that by now the software has been modified to improve performance against those targets. That said, Patriots actual performance against these threats is unknown. We may find out pretty soon.

[Goose]

Good article that accurately enumerates what missiles Ukraine currently has the ability to engage with a good probability of success and also which ones it cannot defend against.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/air-force-spe...40778.html

The term "ballistic" missile is not literally applicable to hardly any Russian missiles in use today, because they all can maneuver in at least one phase of their trajectory, even if it is only the warhead itself that maneuvers. That makes statements about the ability of the Patriot to shoot them down dependent on lots of things. The 40 km number in the article is dependent on the kinetic energy available to the interceptor and to what extent the target can actually evade. Kh-22s generally don't maneuver before the dive onto the target, so they can be shot down at longer ranges. However, since you can predict where they are going, the Patriot will wait until it has the "best" geometry for the intercept, UNLESS there is a high value target on or near the flight path before the best geometry is reached. Obviously the Patriot was not originally designed to shoot down anti-ship missiles. I am pretty sure that by now the software has been modified to improve performance against those targets. That said, Patriots actual performance against these threats is unknown. We may find out pretty soon.