On December 13 Russian Air Power MiG-31K strike fighters launched a significant ballistic missile strike on Ukrainian navy industrial targets, with services producing 155mm and 152mm artillery rounds and drone workshops particularly focused. Gunpowder factories and services producing 125mm tank rounds had been additionally focused, with the Russian Defence Ministry claiming all strikes had been profitable. With the massive majority of Ukraine’s artillery and armour utilizing Soviet ammunition calibres, the nation’s Western allies have notably struggled to supply 155mm, 152mm and 125mm munitions as these aren’t extensively produced by Western-aligned states. Neutralising these defence industrial targets thus has potential to important worsen the Ukraine Army’s already crippling ammunition shortages extensively affecting items starting from artillery to elite mechanised brigades. The Russian Armed Forces’ capability to launch ballistic missile assaults on Ukrainian targets has elevated considerably because of surges in manufacturing of the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal air launched missile and the 9K720 surface-to-surface missile utilized by the Iskander-M system – each to a number of occasions pre-war ranges. White Home stories point out that this has been supplemented by acquisitions of North Korean ballistic missiles, with the Korean KN-23B forex thought of probably the most harmful tactical ballistic missile class operational anyplace in Europe.
The December 13 strike was supported by drone and cruise missile assaults, with Russia having made rising use since late 2022 of Iranian Shahed-136 drones particularly – which from 2023 had been produced in Russia beneath license beneath the designation Geran-2. Ukrainian media reported that the strike concerned roughly 40 missiles, and struck targets within the Dnepr and Sumsky areas. The Kh-47M2 Kinzhal has constantly been reserved for participating high precedence targets, together with positions in Ukraine’s far West because of its for much longer vary than different Russian tactical ballistic missiles. The Kinzhal can interact targets as much as 2000km away from the purpose of launch, because of the large kinetic and gravitational potential vitality imparted to every missile by MiG-31K fighters that are the quickest and highest flying manned fight jets on this planet. MiG-31s can cruise and speeds of over Mach 2 – the very best cruising pace of any fighter on this planet – and might each fly and make use of all their weapons in close to area. This flight efficiency, mixed with their very excessive weapons carrying capacities, makes MiG-31s optimum plane for deploying Kinzhal missiles.
Very like the Korean KN-23B, in addition to the Iskander-M on which its design is predicated, the Kinzhal makes use of a depressed semi-ballistic trajectory and was designed to have a really excessive terminal pace and the power to manoeuvre all through its flight. These components between them make it extraordinarily tough to intercept. U.S. President Joe Biden accordingly mirrored the consensus view on the missile class when he acknowledged in March 2022 shortly after its first fight use that it was successfully “not possible to cease.” Though Ukrainian sources have claimed that American Patriot missile batteries have shot down the missiles in important numbers, this has been very severely questioned by analysts because of the Patriot’s inherent limitations in addition to the Kinzhal’s superior capabilities. Patriot missile methods have very incessantly confirmed incapable of intercepting primary ballistic missile assaults. In each the Gulf Conflict and through Yemeni ballistic missile strike on Saudi Arabia in 2017, Patriot missiles had been extensively reported to have succeeded in blunting main assaults, just for later investigations to show that the methods failed totally regardless of going through missile assaults that had been very removed from subtle. It’s anticipated that comparable revelations concerning Ukrainian claims of Patriot missile shootdowns of Kinzhal missiles will floor as soon as this narrative has had its desired impact on morale each inside the nation and within the wider Western world. Ukrainian sources have extensively reported main successes of their air marketing campaign, most famously the ‘Ghost of Kiev’ MiG-29 pilot who it was claimed shot down very giant numbers of way more superior Russian fighters. The story equally appeared removed from believable, however was extensively re-reported within the West just for it to later be conceded that it had been fabricated to bolster morale and had no foundation in actuality.
