So the thing with the patriot battery. It’s a dispersed multi component system. So what got hit? If one launcher then the others still work?
I've been of the opinion that Ukraine won this war by not losing within the first week, and I've also been of the opinion that Ukraine's victory has come close to saving the world. A Trump victory would have cost millions of lives. Well, millions more.
If Mother Russia wore a red vinyl mini skirt, Wayne Rooney would pay for an all nighter. Now about the war, did I hear last night that Ukraine took a whole swathe of land from the Rooskies?
That's the question. We don't know what was damaged, how bad the damage is, nor how it impacts the operation of the battery. As far as the question about what happens if a launcher is hit. Let's go to the most extreme, let's say the launcher is destroyed. from what I understand, you just unplug the launcher from the command vehicle, update the software to let the system know the launcher isn't there, and you're off to the races.
A Patriot battery Any battery can have up to 8 launchers The most important part (and expensive) of is the radar and that is far away from any launcher. What Russia hit was a launcher which is the least expensive part of the system. And because of NATO interoperability standards a new radar could be replace easily. Like a radar that is currently used with IRIS-T NASAMs or what Germany is sending soon TRML-4D 1658519469998718977 is not a valid tweet id
Ohhhh, Uuuuu-kraine You probably think this thread is about you Oh Uu-kraine (oh, Ukraine) You probably think this thread is about you Don't you Don't you Don't youuuuuuu
The other data point is, after this barrage Russia hasn't followed up soon after with another. That means they: Don't have the missiles. Don't think their missiles can penetrate the defenses even with the reported damage. Russia tested the waters, and have backed off. I think that is the telling part.
It's probably a little of both, but mostly the first. It's also worth noting that even tho Russia claims that the Kinzhal is a new hypersonic missile, it is really just an air launched Izkander. So it has a bit more speed because the airplane's speed at launch is included in its max speed and the same is true of the altitude.. However, the Patriot was designed to combat the Iskander, so it shouldn't be a surprise that it can also hit the Kinzhal.
A consortium of European countries have announced that they will start training Ukrainians on F16s. They are not prepared to offer up any of their aircraft quite yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if some F16s become available in the 6 months to a year it takes to train the pilots and ground crews. The United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, and France have announced that they are now prepared to Create a Coalition of Countries that will begin the Training and Transfer of F-16 “Fighting Falcons” to Ukraine, however they have all stated that while they will soon be… pic.twitter.com/th4qFDeX1B— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) May 17, 2023