Patriot Surface-to-air missile System Proves Counter-Hypersonic Capability

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Patriot Proves Counter-hypersonic Capability

Two batteries of the Raytheon SAM system sent to Ukraine immediately proved their worth, shooting down Russia’s vaunted Kinzhal hypersonic missile.

Rayhteon Patriot — As well as operating in Ukraine, the Patriot surface-to-air missile system protects key installations in neighboring NATO states, such as Poland. (Photo: Raytheon)

By Chris Pocock • Defense Correspondent

June 26, 2023

Raytheon’s Patriot surface-to-air missile (SAM) system has shot down seven Russian Kh-47 Kinzhal air-launched hypersonic missiles over Ukraine in the past few weeks. The success was confirmed by Colonel Serhiy Yaremenko, commander of the 96th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade. “No one was sure that the Patriot was capable of destroying a Kh-47. Ukrainians proved it,” he told the Wall Street Journal.

Previously, the Patriot system has seldom met expectations. Its kill ratio was far from 100 percent in the Gulf Wars, and more recently, over Saudi Arabia against Scud-class tactical ballistic missiles fired by Houthi rebels from Yemen, despite the latest PAC-3 version being billed as having such capability. It had apparently never been tested in the U.S. against a hypersonic threat. “It was not a requirement…but it turns out Patriot has some capability,” Vice-Admiral Jon Hill, director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, told a Senate hearing recently. “It’s got the natural ability [to intercept hypersonic missiles] because it is a cruise missile killer,” he added.

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