Ever since Ukraine's Defense Intelligence Agency claimed that the Russian army had deployed the S-500 long-range anti-aircraft / anti-missile system in Crimea, the outside world has been expecting to see the world's top anti-aircraft and anti-missile system perform. Now, finally, there are preliminary results. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Russian army shot down 4 US Army tactical missiles in the city of Sevastopol in one day, and only one missile deviated from the target under the influence of Russian air defenses, killing 4 people and injuring 151.
The Kyiv Post claimed that the US Army tactical missile launched by the Ukrainian army broke through the Russian S-500 air defense system for the first time. Sevastopol, a key part of Russia's military infrastructure and the center of Crimea's air defense, has just recently deployed Russia's sophisticated S-500 air defense system, which may be the first time that a U.S. Army tactical missile has entered airspace defended by the S-500.
It is worth noting that it is not news that the Ukrainian army attacked the Russian air defense system in Crimea in order to finally destroy the Crimean bridge, but there has never been a situation where all ballistic missiles have been shot down or seriously deviated from the target, which is quite embarrassing for the Ukrainian army. According to statistics, before the deployment of the S-500 to the Crimea, the Russian army lost two S-400 command posts, four radars and 16 launchers.
In the opinion of Russian military expert Dandy Kim, the US Army tactical missiles launched by the Ukrainian army are very effective. Missiles capable of hitting Sevastopol were launched from Odessa at a distance of about 270-280 km in a straight line, while the maximum range of the missiles was 300 km.
Now Russia calls this attack by the Ukrainian army "terrorism" and believes that it was entirely planned by the United States. Why? Because Russia believes that the target of the US Army's tactical missiles is determined by the Pentagon, and the US military has recently dispatched drones to patrol over the Black Sea, which is likely to provide coordinate data for the Ukrainian army's strike. The exact words of the Russian Ministry of Defense were: "Washington and its vassals are encouraging Kyiv to commit acts of international terrorism and kill Russian civilians." ”
The Russian government has vowed to retaliate, with officials warning that the United States and any country involved in supplying weapons to Ukraine will face "consequences."
In the first duel between the US Army tactical missile and the S-500, who won in the end? Judging by the current situation, it seems that the Russian side has won. Because the US Army's tactical missiles have strong penetration capabilities, not because they have strange flight ballistics, but because of their high speed, they pose a serious test of the reaction time of Russian air defense / anti-missile systems. Calculating the distance, it becomes clear that the S-400 or S-500 has only 3 minutes to deal with the US Army's tactical missiles, and the engagement window is only 30 seconds. Why is it likely that this is the first actual combat completed by the S-500? Because the interception success rate has been qualitatively improved. As early as mid-May, the Ukrainian army also launched a large-scale ATACMS attack on the Belbek airfield outside Sevastopol in Crimea, destroying the radar and two launchers of the S-400 air defense system, and from time to time the success rate of interception was close to zero.
The S-500's ability to shoot down 80% of incoming targets in a single day and disrupt the flight path of another ballistic missile is already very powerful. The real weirdness of this is that the Ukrainian battlefield is turning into a testing ground for American weapons: the United States may be interested in testing the effectiveness of the Russian army's S-500 air defense/anti-missile system by directing the Ukrainian army to launch tactical missiles.
Nor should we assume that the S-500 will be able to secure key targets in Crimea, as such an attack is likely to be only tentative. If this war of attrition, once it begins, it is possible to constantly increase the number of incoming missiles in order to crush the defenses of the Russian army. The S-500 is the top-of-the-line product that Russia plans to introduce to the international market, and according to the Russians, both China and India are target customers. If the S-500 becomes famous in this fight, it will certainly be a huge victory for Russia.