Experts assess Kiev's desire to receive THAAD anti-missiles
Kyiv is ready to provide its territory for the deployment of US strategic missile defense (ABM) elements. Ukraine offered the US to install THAAD American anti-missile systems near Kharkiv. According to experts, in the event of a war with Russia, these missile defense installations will not protect Ukraine itself, but they can affect the balance of strategic forces of the Russian Federation and the United States.
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The official representative of the Kremlin Dmitry Peskov called this initiative of Kiev “another step towards destabilizing the situation.” The main threat to us from THAAD systems is their radars, capable of detecting ballistic missile launches a thousand kilometers away.
Even the United States recognizes that such a move by Washington is the “red line” for Russia. Mark Episkopos, a columnist for the Washington-based Center for National Interests, said this on the Soloviev Live YouTube channel.
The paradox is that THAAD complexes, if they are deployed in Ukraine, will not be able to protect the “square” itself, even from Iskander operational-tactical missiles. This is the opinion of a well-known military expert, editor of the Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine Alexei Leonkov.
“They would ask the Poles why the missile defense base in Redzikovo has not yet been built? They would answer: because the Russians in the Kaliningrad region put the operational-tactical Iskander missile system on combat duty! – Leonkov wrote in his Telegram channel “Maduro is not a fool.”
According to him, “smart Japanese, when a North Korean ballistic missile flew over them, also realized that they did not need THAAD, from the word at all” .
It is known that Japan considered the possibility of placing THAAD on its territory, but then abandoned this intention. THAAD is a mobile near-border missile defense system. Designed to protect against ballistic missiles with a launch range of up to 1000 km. The Japanese abandoned THAAD, in part, due to the fact that these weapons were supposed to remain in the hands of the US military. Obviously, Kiev is not embarrassed by such dependence on the United States.
According to the Military-Political Analytics Telegram channel, THAAD is capable of hitting operational-tactical and ballistic missiles at altitudes from 40 km to 150 km and a range of up to 200 km. The mass of the rocket is 900 kg, the length is 6 meters.
The THAAD multi-channel launcher has ten anti-missiles. You can recharge in 30 minutes. Range – up to 1000 km. For comparison, from Kharkov to Moscow – 700 km.
True, the effectiveness of the THAAD complex is questionable: of the seven experimental launches of anti-missiles, only yes were successful.
THAAD is not capable of fighting hypersonic missiles , whose speed is six times the speed of sound – Mach 6. At the same time, the speed of the Iskander-M missile is Mach 7, the Kinzhal missile is Mach 10, and the Zircon naval missile is Mach 9. Any of these missiles is capable of destroying the THAAD complex.