Russia is trying to make the “Iskander” missile an even more challenging target for Ukrainian air defense, forcing it to maneuver, mask its warhead with false targets, and evade the radars of Patriot and SAMP/T systems. However, experts have different opinions: some speak of a dangerous adaptation to Western systems, others argue that most of these capabilities existed from the initial design of the missile.
Russia could be preparing for use modernized versions of ballistic missiles intended for Iskander complexes. According to monitoring channels, the updated ammunition is expected to be able to maneuver, descend in altitude to make detection by radars more difficult, and launch false targets.
These changes would have the role of overloading the Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense system and complicating the operation of interceptor missiles. At the same time, Russia has modernized the Iskander missiles throughout the large-scale war, in an attempt to increase their chances of penetrating the Patriot and SAMP/T systems.
“Russia has obtained the signatures of Patriot and SAMP/T”
According to Anatolii Hrapcinski, a reserve officer of the Ukrainian Air Forces and aviation expert, quoted by the publication Focus, if Russia is modernizing its missiles, it means they are trying to overcome the obstacles created by the Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense.
He explained that the Patriot system has already undergone numerous upgrades throughout the large-scale war, as the adversary constantly changes its missile usage tactics and tries to identify the weak points of the Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense.
For instance, the Russians have tried to launch missiles in such a way as to avoid the coverage areas of the Patriot complexes. Since the Patriot radar system provides sectoral coverage, the enemy takes into account the placement of the radars and tries to construct corresponding attack trajectories.
According to the expert, an analysis of the recent trajectories of Russian ballistic missiles shows that the adversary is distributing its strikes between the northern and southern directions, thus trying to simultaneously overburden the Ukrainian capacity for detection and counteracting targets.
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