Ukrainian air defense maybe shot down the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal ballistic missile [UPDATED]
According to Defense Express, on the night of May 4, 2023 Ukrainian Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine shot down the vaunted Russian Kinzhal over Kyiv.
Defense Express received from its own sources a photo of the wreckage of the missile that fell on the stadium within the boundaries of Kyiv. In one of the photos, you can see the nose fairing, which is as similar as possible to the one used on Kh-47M2 Kinzhal missiles.
The Kyiv City Military Administration officially announced the attack on Kyiv on the night of May 4, 2023: “The Russians launched an attack on Kyiv with the use of barrage ammunition of the Shahed type and missiles, probably of the ballistic type. (The final type of missiles used will be determined only after examination of the wreckage).”
As Defense Express points out, the wreckage shows that it suffered a penetration hit, indicating that the interception was quite effective in destroying the warhead while still in the air. The powerful explosion heard by the people of Kyiv on the night of May 4 is apparently related to this. The large thickness of the fairing material is due to the fact that it must withstand high temperatures during acceleration to hypersonic speeds.
Defense Express believes the intercept was carried out with Patriot air defense systems, which recently went on combat duty in Ukraine. Apparently, this is confirmed by one of the Ukrainian military on Twitter.
We are waiting for confirmation of the destruction of the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal from the Command of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. If this is true, then the wreckage of the missile is of great interest to the US, which is now testing its own hypersonic weapon.
As a reminder, the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal missile is a conditionally hypersonic (Mach 5.9) air-launched ballistic missile, created on the basis of operational-tactical ballistic missiles 9K720 Iskander-M. Carriers of Kinzhal are MiG-31K and Tu-22M3 aircraft. Until recently, Ukraine had no means of countering such missiles. Looks like it already has.
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Command of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine refused to comment on the rumours, referring all interested parties for comments to Defense Express and Kyiv City Military Administration.