Kremlin has 500 ballistic missiles ready to launch at Ukraine - The Economist
Illustrative photo: The Kremlin has about 500 ballistic missiles in reserve (Getty Images)
The Russian army may have about 500 ballistic missiles at its disposal, which are quite difficult to shoot down, The Economist reports.
Although Ukraine still has a chance to fight against drones and cruise missiles, the prospects of combating ballistic missile attacks are bleaker.
"Only a handful of countries have systems that can counter such fast and destructive weapons. In the Western world, the American Patriot system has an effective monopoly on the ballistic air defense business. Ukraine now has at least eight Patriot batteries, though at any given time some are damaged and under repair," writes The Economist.
According to the media resource, the current problem is that Ukraine has gone from being a priority for the administration of former US President Joe Biden to just one of many potential customers competing for the limited production of Lockheed Martin. Although this company is increasing production of the PAC-3 missile for the Patriot system to 650 units per year, this is about 100 missiles less than the projected production of ballistic missiles in Russia.
As The Economist notes, a source in the Ukrainian government believes that the Kremlin has a stockpile of 500 missiles. Usually, two PAC-3 interceptor missiles are needed to intercept one Russian ballistic missile.
Furthermore, the media reports that the main challenge currently faced by Ukrainian air defense is the huge number of Russian drones. Last year, the Kremlin was launching about 300 Shahed UAVs per month; now the same number is launched in less than three days.
At the same time, Ukrainian intelligence claims to have documents proving that Russia plans to increase drone production to 500 per day. This means that attack swarms of 1,000 UAVs could become a reality.
Ballistic and drone strike on Kyiv
On the night of May 24, Russia carried out one of the most massive attacks on Kyiv, simultaneously using ballistic missiles and drones. The enemy launched 14 Iskander-M/KN-23 missiles and 250 strike drones at Ukraine. Air defense destroyed six missiles and eliminated 245 drones. According to Yurii Ihnat, Head of communications for the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Russians launched nine ballistic missiles at Kyiv.
For more details about the consequences of the night attack, read our material on the topic.
According to Ihnat, Russia has modernized its ballistic missiles, which it uses to attack Ukraine. This has complicated the work of Patriot air defense systems, which are capable of shooting down ballistic missiles.
