Last ship to leave on Wednesday, a day before Russia may quit Black Sea deal; Zelenskiy welcomes ‘good start’ to F-16 fighter jets coalition announced by UK and Netherlands
There has been a lot of talk this week about Russia’s “hypersonic” missile, the Kinzhal, and whether the US-supplied Patriot system has the capability of shooting them down. Reuters has this little explainer today, writing:
The Patriot system was designed before hypersonic weapons were sent to battlefield and manufacturer Raytheon has not said publicly that the is effective against a missile flying at hypersonic speeds (anything above five times the speed of sound). While the US said that the Patriot system brought down last week’s Khinzal missile, it was not clear if that missile was traveling at hypersonic speed at the time.
While Russia’s Kinzhal missile may reach speeds of up to 7,600 mph (12,350 kph), “Russia’s designation of the Kinzhal as a ‘hypersonic’ missile is somewhat misleading, as nearly all ballistic missiles reach hypersonic speeds (i.e. above Mach 5) at some point during their flight,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a March 2022 report.