Four US-made air defense launchers were reportedly taken out by Russian Iskanders
Russian missiles have destroyed two batteries of US-made ‘Patriot’ air defense systems and a German IRIS-T in two regions of Ukraine, according to videos released by the defense ministry in Moscow on Friday.
The US and its allies have sent an unspecified number of air defense systems to Ukraine, following Vladimir Zelensky’s pleas to help Kiev deal with Russian airstrikes.
The first Ministry of Defense (MOD) video showed reconnaissance drone footage of two Patriot launchers and a AN/MPQ-65 radar station, in a field near Lyubimovka in Dnepropetrovsk Region. The field is then struck by cluster munitions from an Iskander-M missile.
The radar station can be seen exploding. The MOD said that both launchers were “completely destroyed” as well.
The second video was reportedly shot near Zhelobok, also in Dnepropetrovsk Region. The Ukrainian position consists of three Patriot launchers and another AN/MPQ-65 radar. One of the launchers can be seen releasing two missiles before an Iskander strike peppers the field with cluster bombs. Two of the launchers and the radar were completely destroyed, the Russian MOD said.
The third video shows a German-made IRIS-T launcher and a TRLM-4D radar vehicle, operating near the town of Sennoe in Ukraine’s Sumy Region before another Iskander-M missile arrives on their position.
All three strikes were filmed by reconnaissance drones, who operated deep over Ukraine unmolested.
Developed by the US military contractor Raytheon, the ‘Patriot’ system has been advertised as one of the most effective air defenses in the West since the 1991 Gulf War, when it reportedly shot down Iraqi ballistic missiles.
According to publicly released specifications, it can engage targets at a range of up to 160km and altitudes of up to 24km. A typical Patriot battery consists of several launchers, a radar vehicle and a “power plant” truck, and is serviced by up to 90 personnel.
