Ukrainian air defences brace for Russian-launched Iranian missiles
Ukrainian air defence systems will soon face significant challenges in combating Iranian missiles launched by the Russian Federation, claims Ukrainian aviation industry expert Konstantin Krywolap in an interview with the Kyiv24 portal. This is yet another instance where Ukrainians have evaluated the Fath-360 missiles similarly.
Recently, the topic of transferring Iranian Fath-360 missiles to Russia has been increasingly discussed. The first reports of plans to deliver this weapon appeared in August 2024 and were quickly confirmed by an Iranian politician. The deliveries are also corroborated by an analysis conducted by the Sky News portal, where experts tracked the route of a ship from Iran, which arrived in the Russian Federation with over 200 Fath-360 missiles.
"It will be too late to shoot them down"
Hence, Ukrainians will be facing quite a challenge soon. Konstantin Krywolap stated bluntly in an interview with the Kyiv24 portal that "Ukrainian air defence forces will face difficulties when using Iranian ballistic missiles." In his opinion, the problem can be tackled by destroying the missiles while they are still on the ground.
– Iranian missiles, once they are in flight, it will already be too late to shoot them down. Even the Patriot missile will find it challenging to shoot down such a missile. I am not sure if it is even possible – Krywolap warned. The expert believes that Ukraine's best option is to destroy this weapon before Russia launches it over the defenders' country.
The easiest way – in his opinion – is to do this at the storage location or during transport. – These missiles are gathered somewhere and will then be distributed – he said, noting that the Russian army will use the Fath missiles from different locations, to which they will need to be transported. This, in turn, presents an opportunity for Ukrainians to eliminate the threat.
A difficult target for Ukrainian air defence
Fath-360 missiles are an advanced weapon system with a length of approximately 17 feet and a diameter of just under 1 foot 3 inches. Each missile weighs around 1,764 pounds.
Fath-360 has the capability to hit targets located 75 miles from the launch site. Thanks to advanced GNSS and GLONASS satellite guidance systems and inertial navigation, these missiles are highly precise. The speed they achieve upon impact is up to Mach 4.
The introduction of modern technologies, such as precise satellite guidance and the ability to reach high speeds, greatly complicates the missile's interception by defence systems.
