F-16s and modern systems needed to defend Ukraine from russia's ballistic missile threat – Air Force
Ukrainian air defense effectively shoots down russian cruise missiles, but Air Force has no means against enemy ballistic missiles and several other types.
The spokesperson of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel Yurii Ihnat, explained in an interview with Channel 24 what missiles Ukrainian air defense could shoot down:
- Kalibr (3М14) is a sea-based cruise missile (which russia uses to attack from the Black Sea),
- Kh-101/Kh-555/Kh-55 – air-launched cruise missiles,
- R-500 (9M728) is a land-based cruise missile from the Iskander-K complex (an analog of "Kalibr")
- Kh-59 is an air-to-ground guided missile.
- Kh-35 is an air, sea, or shore-based anti-ship missile.
The colonel gave a list of missiles that Ukraine's air defense cannot shoot down:
- 9М723 – Iskander-M ballistic missile
- 9M79M – Tochka-U missile
- MRLS rockets
- Kh-22 is a supersonic long-range air-launched anti-ship cruise missile
- R-800 Onyx land-based cruise missile
- Kh-47 Kindzhal hypersonic aeroballistic missile
- Kh-31P is an aviation anti-radar missile
"We do not shoot down ballistic missiles. In particular, Iskander-Ms are 9М723 ballistic missiles, which the enemy used a lot at the beginning of the war," Ihnat said. "The russians used up their entire strategic stockpile of Iskander-Ms at the beginning of the war, so later, they began to use the outdated Tochka-U complexes. For example, it was the case with the Kramatorsk railway station [terrorist attack on April 8, 2022]. Also, unfortunately, there is no way to intercept MRLS missiles, such as Smerch."
The Air Force spokesman explained that all these missiles fly quickly on a ballistic trajectory and actually fall on the target at a tremendous speed. Ukraine needs special anti-aircraft missile systems and jets to shoot down what is already falling.
"We also classify S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles, which the occupiers use against ground targets in the front-line zone at a distance of up to 150 kilometers, as ballistic. The greater the distance from the launch site, the greater the inaccuracy, so they often end up in the wrong place, and civilians die. In this way, it is nothing more than a weapon of terrorism," the colonel added.
Although the Kh-22 missile is classified as a cruise missile, its speed is 4-5,000 kilometers per hour. It is launched from a very high altitude, and when it hits the target, it actually dives like a ballistic, said Colonel Ihnat.
"This missile has a lethal warhead weighing 950 kilograms. It destroyed the apartment building in Dnipro [January 14, 2023] and Kremenchuk's shopping center [June 27, 2022].
The situation is similar to the Kh-22 regarding the R-800 Onyx shore-based supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles, often launched at Odesa," he said.
According to the air force spokesperson, the newest threat is the Kh-47 Kinzhal hypersonic aeroballistic missile used in MiG-31K aircraft. "The complexity of its damage is conventionally several times higher than that of the same Kh-22 due to a much higher flight speed and an even shorter response time for equipment and people," Ihnat said, adding that until recently, their use was one-off. Still, the recent round of 6 missiles (russia launched six Kinzhals on the night of March 9) confirms the real danger of these weapons and the critical need for modern air defense.
Colonel Ihnat also said that "narrow-profile" aviation anti-radar missiles Kh-31P and similar air-to-ground missiles of a shorter range pose a problem. Still, they mostly pose a threat only near the battle line.
"We say all this honestly to not instill vain hope. We are not russia, and we cannot lie to our own people," Ihnat said.
Yurii Ihnat also told Channel 24 that Ukraine needed F-16 fighters to make it a significant component of the overall air defense that will also help keep russian aircraft away from Ukrainian borders and thereby protect cities and villages from bombing.
According to him, modern Western aircraft would help the Armed Forces of Ukraine gain air superiority, effectively and safely deliver pinpoint strikes, "suffocate" anti-aircraft defenses, disrupt russian logistics, command posts, etc.
"Having gained superiority in the air on a certain part of the front, you can fully count on a successful ground de-occupation operation," he said.
Ihnat noted that the Air Force needs to focus on a single type of multi-purpose aircraft, and the F-16 is the most common aircraft of its class in the world, among those that meet the needs of Ukraine.
"We need such aircraft, first of all, to protect against russian terrorist missile attacks on our cities and critical infrastructure. They will become an important component of the overall air defense," he said, adding that MiG and Su-type aircraft cannot effectively shoot down ballistic missiles and Shahed drones, and the F-16 with powerful radar and modern missiles will allow to shoot down these targets really effectively.
Reference
Ukraine needs complexes that can shoot down Kh-22 missiles and other high-speed missiles — Patriot and FSAF SAMP/T air defense systems. But their range of hitting ballistic targets is only about 40 kilometers.