Three attacks on Ukrainian airfields in two days. Two of the targets hit are about a thousand kilometers from the Ukrainian-Russian front. Putin’s air defense failed. According to military experts, Russia has relatively modern surface-to-air missile systems, writes Der Spiegel. Yet it has been outsmarted several times. How is that possible? There is currently no hard evidence – just a few theories.
Russian military expert Yuri Knutov expressed the following thoughts in a political talk show: “It is possible that the Russian armed forces have moved many anti-aircraft systems to the front, or at least close to it.” Another factor is the scarcity of precision munitions. Out of necessity, S-300 missiles must also have been used for ground targets. “This probably created a hole in the Russian air defense system.”
What role does the US play?
According to Knutov, the Americans discovered the weaknesses in the Russian air defenses. American reconnaissance satellites are responsible for this. “The US military then passed the data on to the Ukrainians.” This allowed the drone routes to be optimally planned. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (60) has officially denied any involvement in this attack. Kiev is silent about the attacks on the airports.
Australian ex-general and war observer Mick Ryan says: “It is a combination of knowledge of the gaps in the Russian air defense network, freely available material and observations on the ground.” Evaluations by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) draw attention to critical comments from Russian military bloggers on the Telegram messaging service. It is suspected that Ukrainian special forces or saboteurs are behind the attack. But how does the Russian air defense system actually work?
Speed puzzles about Russian defense missiles
A network of radar devices must ensure that every flying object in the Russian area is detected. So that anti-aircraft guns and surface-to-air missiles know where to fire or fly. Depending on the distance to the enemy object, different weapons are used. There is the short, medium or long distance.
S-300 missiles are used in the latter area. According to “Missile Threat”, an information platform of the CSIS (Centre for Strategic and International Studies), they can move up to 4300 km/h. The Tu-141 drones used in the attacks on the airport have a flight speed of 1110 km/h, according to experts. Therefore, the S-300 missiles should have been able to repel these attacks.
How does Russia react?
The Tu-141 drones should not have been small flying objects, as the “Mirror” writes. Reportedly, it was rather abandoned fighter jets over 14 meters in length that wreaked havoc in Russia. A Russian surveillance camera can also be heard while the turbines make a huge noise. Yet they remained undiscovered. They hit military targets, which are additionally protected with special defense weapons.
Russian military bloggers on Telegram are now demanding that Russia put defense systems from other regions of the country within range of the drones. This is intended to better protect military targets. (no)