S-400 ‘Knocks Out’ Patriot Missile? Russian MoD Claims First Ever Shoot Down Of Patriot Interceptor Missile

By
Sakshi Tiwari
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The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) announced on February 20 that an unknown air defense system had managed to intercept — the first for the country — a Patriot anti-aircraft-guided missile.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the Russian air defense systems had intercepted three HIMARS shells, a Patriot anti-aircraft missile system, and seven Storm Shadow cruise missiles.

The Russian MoD did not name the air defense system behind the said interceptions.

“During the day, seven British-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles, a US-made Patriot anti-aircraft guided missile, as well as three US-made HIMARS multiple launch rockets, were intercepted,” the statement read, according to a report published by state news agency TASS.

While British-supplied Storm Shadow long-range missiles and HIMARS projectiles are routinely downed by Russian air defenses, there have been no official reports of the interception of a Patriot-guided missile.

Some military specialists closely following the conflict in Ukraine speculated that this could be the first time that Russia has intercepted a Patriot missile.

Military analyst and Russian-watcher Squadron Leader Vijainder K. Thakur said – “While the interception of 7 Storm Shadow missiles is remarkable, the interception of a Patriot interceptor is even more remarkable. I don’t believe it has ever occurred earlier. However, I could be wrong.”

Thakur further conjectured that the MIM-104 interception might have occurred at medium altitude, given that the launching Patriot battery would likely be stationed beyond HIMARS MLRS and Lancet range, well behind the frontline.

Although the Russian MoD did not name the air defense system that downed the Patriot-guided missile, experts believe that S-400 could be behind the kill if it really happened. EurAsian Times could not independently verify these claims while writing the report.

Russia Is Going After the Patriots

The reported interception of a Patriot-guided missile is significant as it comes at a time when social media is replete with reports that the Patriot missile defense systems could be behind the downing of all seven Russian fighter jets in the past week using PAC-2 missiles with a range of 90 miles.

Patriot-Missile
Patriot AD System

Multiple videos posted on social media showed a Patriot missile shot down a Su-34.

Russia has lost five Su-34 Fullback fighter bombers and two Su-35 Flanker-E jets in less than a week, as previously reported by EurAsian Times. There are claims that the Russian air defense system may have shot down a Patriot missile launched to take down a Su-34 dropping UPMC bombs.

Ukraine’s Patriot missile defense systems have been an irritant for the Russian Air Force ever since they were deployed last summer. According to unverified claims in the Ukrainian war tracking community, Patriots have been credited with the shooting down of three Mi-8s, one Su-24, likely nine Su-34, three Su-35s, one A-50, and damaging one Il-22M aircraft.

In December 2023, a Su-30 SM Flanker was escorting a Su-24M to carry out a military mission when Ukraine knocked off the Su-24M Fencer bomber jet with a US-made Patriot surface-to-air missile.

In January this year, Ukraine’s Army chief Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi said that the air force had “destroyed” an A-50 long-range radar detection aircraft and an Il-22 control center plane. A few days later, Russia alleged that Ukraine had used a Patriot to shoot down a Russian Il-76 military transport plane that was transporting Ukrainian Prisoners of War (PoW).

“The fragments seized from the scene, according to their design features, geometric characteristics, and available markings, are structural elements of the MIM-104A anti-aircraft guided missile of the Patriot complex of the United States, developed by Raytheon and Hughes corporations and manufactured by Raytheon,” an investigative Russian committee said.

Russia, then, has all the reasons to go after the Patriot and destroy operational batteries.

On February 22, the Russian MoD claimed that it had shot down the launcher of the US-made air defense system Patriot in Ukraine.

“Operational and tactical aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), missile and artillery forces of the armed forces of the Russian Federation hit a launcher and a transport-loading vehicle of the Patriot anti-aircraft missile system manufactured in the United States,” the MoD said in a statement.

The same day, Russian military bloggers posted a video on social media, stating that Russian missiles had struck a complex in Chornobaivka in the Kherson region that housed Patriot missile components and a control center. The assertions were refuted by pro-Ukrainian bloggers who observed that only a cargo truck was visibly hit in the footage.

 

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