Ukraine has 2 options to defend against ballistic missiles — The Economist
Photo: There is a critical shortage of Patriot missiles (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
Against the backdrop of a severe shortage of Patriot interceptor missiles and Russia's ramped-up ballistic missile production, Ukraine has two main lines of defense against attacks, according to The Economist.
Two approaches to defending against ballistic missiles
Ukraine's stockpile of PAC-3 interceptor missiles for the Patriot systems is nearly depleted. At the same time, Russia has ramped up its production of ballistic missiles to approximately 100 units per month, and the Freyja missile defense system is not yet ready for deployment.
Under these circumstances, The Economist notes, Ukraine has two main options.
- The first is to fortify and camouflage infrastructure and industrial facilities while ensuring a sufficient supply of spare parts
- The second is the so-called left-of-launch strategy—that is, taking action before a missile is launched.
This strategy aims to reduce the number of missiles available to Russia by striking the factories that produce them and destroying launchers before a missile is fired.
Domestically produced missiles to make up for shortages
Ukraine hopes to replenish its arsenal with domestically produced ballistic missiles in the coming months. These include the Sapsan missile, currently under development by Pivdenmash, as well as the FP-7 and the longer-range FP-9, manufactured by Fire Point.
Thanks to their speed, these missiles will be able to strike mobile launchers more effectively than drones, before the launchers have a chance to fire and disappear.
However, this is an extremely difficult task, notes The Economist. Even the United States, with its complete air superiority over Iran, struggles to destroy enemy mobile launchers.
Oleh Ivashchenko, head of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (HUR), warned that this fall and winter, Russia would intensify its combined strikes against Ukraine's energy sector and thermal power generation.
According to him, Russia is simultaneously using ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, Shahed rockets, and new loitering munitions, which complicates the work of air defense forces.
Meanwhile, Vadym Skibitskyi, a representative of HUR, stated that by the end of the year, Russia plans to complete testing of a new type of ballistic missile with a range of up to 800 kilometers.
According to him, during these tests, Russia may attack targets in Ukraine's western regions.
