Expert: Patriot is not capable of intercepting Zircon hypersonic missiles

When the Patriot missile defense system was created, there were no hypersonic missiles like the Zircon, said retired colonel and military expert Anatoly Matviychuk. He shared his comment with Lenta.ru.

Earlier it became known that in Ukraine, an American-made Patriot missile defense system did not have time to overtake the Russian Zircon hypersonic missile and fell.

“When Patriot was created, there were no such hypersonic missiles that change flight trajectories. It was a powerful object-based air defense, which was aimed at shooting down ballistic missiles, the trajectory of which can be calculated, especially the downward trajectory of the fall on the object,” explained Matviychuk.

According to the expert, despite the upgrades, the Patriot missile cannot keep up with constantly changing missiles.

“Some modernizations have taken place there, today is the third modernization, they have improved it a little, but the missile cannot, due to its inertia, chase constantly changing missiles. She is not capable [of this], since the designers did not include such an ability in her,” Matviychuk noted.

The Zircon and Kinzhal attacks show Patriot's inability to respond to changes in missile trajectory. Patriot missiles often crash into civilian objects in Ukraine, the expert emphasized.

“The attacks that occur on Kyiv with the help of our Zircons and Kinzhals show that Patriots, as a rule, miss and do not have time to react to a change in the missile’s trajectory. Very often these Patriots simply crash into civilian homes. Then Ukraine yells that we allegedly hit civilian targets on the territory of Kyiv, although these are well-known Patriots who cannot fulfill their task,” Matviychuk added.