Ukraine has necessary means: Armed Forces explain how they down Zircons
Photo: AFU explaines how Zircons are shot down (Russian media)
Ukraine has the necessary means to shoot down Russian anti-ship hypersonic missiles ZM22 Zircon, says the spokesman for the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), Illia Yevlash.
As Yevlash explained, the speed of a hypersonic weapon is more than Mach 5. Mach 1 is about 1.2 thousand kilometers per hour.
"This is a very fast weapon. When we talk about Zircons, it's approximately Mach 8-9. It's incredibly fast. However, when these missiles enter the strike trajectory, their speed decreases. It becomes subsonic. Somewhere around Mach 4.5," said the AFU spokesman.
He added that when the speed of the Zircon is around 4.5 Mach, Ukraine uses anti-ballistic missile complexes to shoot it down, such as SAMP/T or Patriot.
Zircon attacks on Ukraine
Recently, the media reported that the Russian Federation may have used the anti-ship hypersonic missile ZM22 Zircon during the attack on Ukraine on February 7. The enemy used the aforementioned missile again on March 25. At that time, experts were able to collect more fragments and better examine the missile.
For more information on the Zircon missile and whether the Russians could indeed attack Kyiv with it, read the material of RBC-Ukraine.
