Rome, March 28, 2022 – I know Russia, on the push of war in Ukraineshould it decide to attack an EU country, Europe would be able to protect itself from rain of missiles from Moscow? The answer is in theory yes, thanks to the Twister project, but there is a doubt that it could be fatal. Twister, developed by the MBDA consortium, is based on interceptors of similar class to the SM-2 or the American Patriot, but it is not taken for granted that this system will be effective against the new Russian hypersonic missiles.
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Summary
The Russian Kinzhal Kh-47M2 missile can reach twelve times the speed of sound. But MBDA said the Twister system can hit targets that fly “over Mach 5”, leaving the question: how much higher? MBDA in 2020 ensured that its interceptors can strike targets at an altitude maximum of 100 kilometers, and therefore also the Russian Khinzals seen at work in Ukraine, which arrive at that height and then detach themselves from the rocket that carries them and swoop down at hypersonic speed, but here is the gap: SM-2 or the American Patriots, even the latest PAC 3, can they intercept something traveling at Mach 12 speeds?
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The Pentagon he thinks not, and in fact he has developed new ones, after realizing that the Kinzhals made batteries obsolete Aegis Ashore present on US military ships patrolling European coasts. Then came the new SM-6 interceptors, developed precisely in response to the Russian hypersonic program. The problem is that if the EU wants them it has to wait until at least 2024, so there is nothing but hope for an upgrade that updates its anti-aircraft system so as to be effective against hypersonic missiles (For example, the Patriot system receives hardware updates and software continuously). Even today, Admiral Christopher W. Grady, Deputy Chief of the Joint Staff of the Pentagon, reiterated that the United States must also urgently equip itself with defense systems capable of responding to “new hypersonic threats”, such as the new ballistic missiles. generation built by China and Russia. In fact, in service there is the SM-6 Standard, which still has limited capabilities to intercept hypersonic targets, and the tests to evaluate it at work against a hypersonic target that it maneuvers is scheduled for 2024.
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