The missile attack on Ukraine on December 13: what could have helped to avoid it
13 December 16:31
Ukraine urgently needs 20 air defense systems. This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andriy Sybiga on December 13 against the backdrop of Russia’s massive attack on Ukraine, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.
The Foreign Minister wrote about this on his page on the social network X.
“Russia’s massive missile attack on Ukraine this morning is primarily aimed at the energy system. Russia wants to deprive us of energy. Instead, we must deprive it of the means of terror,” Sibiga wrote.
The diplomat called on partners to provide Ukraine with 20 NASAMS, HAWK or IRIS-T air defense systems.
What air defense systems did Andriy Sybiga write about?
NASAMS is a Norwegian medium-range air defense missile system. It was developed by the Norwegian company Norwegian Kongsberg and the American Raytheon. NASAMS was the first ground-based system to use AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles and the first locator-guided missile system in the West.
The basic unit is a platoon. One NASAMS platoon consists of 3 launchers carrying 18 AMRAAM missiles, one AN/TPQ-64 three-coordinate radar station, and one fire control center. A combat (tactical) unit is a battery. One battery consists of 3 platoons – 9 guns, 54 missiles, three radars that have the technical capability to be combined into a single information network, where one radar can operate as all three radars, and three fire control centers. One of the PCVs is used as a battery command post. It receives targeting instructions from the higher headquarters and transmits them to the other PCVs. The time for a battery to fire its entire ammunition is no more than 12 seconds.
HAWK is an American medium-range anti-aircraft missile system.
The Hawk is a semi-stationary medium-range air defense missile system designed to protect troops (military air defense) and the most valuable rear targets (target air defense) from enemy air attack. Initially, the system was designed to defeat enemy aircraft, but later it was given the ability to combat tactical missiles. The weapon of the system is a single-stage solid-fuel missile with a semi-active radar homing head. The system has been repeatedly modernized, with the composition of its equipment changing and its technical characteristics improving.
The Hawk air defense missile system contains a number of technical means (missiles, radars, controls, launchers, etc.), the composition and specific models of which have been constantly changing during repeated modernizations.
The Hawk system is capable of hitting targets in difficult weather conditions and when the enemy uses jamming. In the basic version of the system, the range of high-flying targets is from 2 km to 32 km, low-flying targets – from 3.5 km to 16 km, the height of the kill – from 60 m to 13.7 km, the maximum speed of intercepted targets – 1600 km/h, the probability of hitting a target with one missile is estimated at 50-55%. In the “Improved Hawk” upgrade (and all subsequent upgrades), the maximum range of high-flying targets increased to 40 km, the minimum range decreased to 1.5 km, low-flying targets – to 20 km and 2.5 km, respectively, the maximum height of the target increased to 17.7 km, the minimum height of the target, according to some sources, decreased to 30 m. According to some reports, when using MIM-23K/J missiles, the maximum range has increased to 45 km and the maximum altitude to 20 km. The probability of hitting a target with a single missile has increased to 85%.
IRIS-T is a medium-range system with the ability to engage targets at a range of 40 km. The first such SAM has already been used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the fall of 2022, and was publicly demonstrated in January 2023.
The design of the IRIS-T SLM embodies the principle of complete independence from the chassis. Instead, all components are compatible in size and fasteners with standard ISO 20-foot containers and can be transported by any vehicle, such as trucks. Due to the compatibility of dimensions with a standard container, the transportation of missiles by airplanes and ships has been significantly simplified. Among other things, the system can be transported by C-130 and A400M military transport aircraft.
The system has a 360-degree radar and is capable of simultaneously firing at multiple targets in all weather conditions. The system can also connect additional launchers depending on the needs (Plug-and-Fight principle). As standard, the radar, control center, and launchers together with the missiles are capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 40 km.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine on December 13: what is known
On the morning of December 13, Ukraine was threatened by a large-scale missile attack. The country declared an air alert due to active missile launches by Russian troops.
At around 07:00, the military warned of possible strikes. At 07:24, it became known that a Russian MiG-31K fighter jet, a carrier of the Kinzhal missiles, had taken off from the Savasleyka airfield. In addition, the launch of cruise missiles that entered the territory of Ukraine from the north and Kherson region was recorded.
Monitoring channels report that as of 07:30, up to 12 Kalibr cruise missiles and up to five X-101 missiles were spotted in Ukrainian airspace.
According to preliminary information, the missiles are headed for Kyiv, Poltava, Kirovohrad regions, as well as the western regions.
Explosions have already been heard in several regions, including Odesa and Cherkasy. Air defense forces are working in Kyiv region, shooting down enemy missiles.
Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said that the missiles were moving through Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk regions.
In the Chernivtsi region, the head of the Regional Military Administration Ruslan Zaparniuk urged residents to immediately take shelter. He emphasized the ban on photo and video recording of rocket attacks.
