The Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has officially released the details of the enemy's use of the so-called "hypersonic" Kh-47 Kinzhal missiles, that the aggressors launched on August 11th.
In total, the enemy launched four missiles from four MiG-31K aircraft, that took off from the Savasleyka airbase in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Launches were carried out from the airspace of the Tula and Lipetsk regions, approximately 200 km away from the Ukrainian border.
Read more: Ukraine Repels a Two-Stage Combined Missile Attack: From "Hypersonic" Kh-47 Kinzhal Missiles to False Targets Coming from belarus
One of them was headed towards Kyiv, where it was intercepted. The other three flew about 900 km and attempted to hit a military base in the Kolomyia district of the Ivano-Frankivsk region. However, they missed and hit civilian infrastructure and residential areas.
Unfortunately, as a result of these misses, there were casualties and injuries, as a Kh-47 Kinzhal missile fell near a house where a family with three children lived; an 8-year-old boy died.
The Office of the Prosecutor General has already published photos of the enemy's war crime:
Meanwhile, the information from reports revealed a significant flaw in the russian Kh-47 Kinzhal. The distance from the sole airfield in the Kolomyia district to any building is about 1 km. Therefore, the circular probable deviation of this russian "hypersonic" missile during a launch at a distance of about 900 km is more than 1000 meters.
This can be explained by the fact that the Kh-47 Kinzhal uses a rather inaccurate guidance system that cannot provide the required circular probable deviation for hitting a pinpoint target.
It is important to note that the increase in the error from the flight distance is a standard problem of the inertial guidance system. Thus, the longer the missile is in flight, the bigger the error. This can fully explain why, in the case of hitting targets closer to the border, the Kh-47 Kinzhal may demonstrate better accuracy.
However, the level of guidance accuracy demonstrated by the Kh-47 Kinzhal is lower than even that of the Temp-S, Soviet Operational-Tactical Missile System (OTMS), that was adopted in the mid-1960s. At a range of 900 km, it had a "design" circular probable deviation of 370 meters.
Of course, this does not make the Kh-47 Kinzhal completely safe when the enemy uses it within a known range. Moreover, it greatly reduces its overall effectiveness.
Furthermore, the kremlin assigned great tasks to this development in terms of destroying elements of the US missile defense. However, as practice shows, the Kh-47 Kinzhal is unlikely to be capable of this, because, firstly, it can be intercepted by the Patriot PAC 3 system. Secondly, it does not provide the required accuracy. This accuracy is also necessary even in the case of a nuclear strike, as it involves hitting well-protected launchers.
In light of this, it's entirely worth anticipating a new wave of arrests in russia involving individuals connected to the Kh-47 Kinzhal. However, if previously the "purges" targeted the theorists of hypersonics, it's quite possible that they will now extend to those who were involved in guidance systems as well.
As Defense Express reported, After the Failure of the Kinzhal Hypersonic Missiles russians Began to Look for Scapegoats Among Theorists, Designers and Even Military Representatives.
Read more: Ukrainian Air Force Reveals How They Managed to Intercept Kh-47 Kinzhal and Other Ballistic Missiles With Patriot
