File image.
A Russian Pantsir-S air defense system shot down three Ukrainian FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles during a large-scale attack on the Moscow region on the night of September 19-20, Russia’s Defense Ministry said.
The ministry released footage on September 27 showing the crew operating the system. The commander, using the call sign “Barnaul,” said the crew detected a high-speed target during nighttime combat duty, tracked it and identified it as a cruise missile before engaging it. The same crew destroyed three Flamingo missiles, according to the ministry.
Russia’s Defense Ministry separately said that air defenses destroyed a total of eight Flamingo missiles during the broader attack.
Interfax reported the ministry’s claim that the three intercepted by the Pantsir-S system represented the first such engagement involving Flamingo missiles during attacks on Moscow.
Russian military correspondent Alexander Safiulin, whose comments were included in the report, said the missiles approached at an altitude of about 50 to 100 meters. The low-altitude flight profile is intended to make detection more difficult by limiting the time available to ground-based air defenses.
The Pantsir-S is a short-range, mobile air defense system that combines surface-to-air missiles with twin 30 mm automatic cannons. It is designed to provide point defense against a range of threats, including cruise missiles, drones, helicopters and precision-guided weapons.
The system uses radar and electro-optical sensors for detection and tracking and can operate autonomously or as part of a wider air defense network.
The Pantsir-S1 carries 12 surface-to-air missiles. Its standard 57E6-E missile has a reported maximum range of 20 kilometers and a top speed of about 1,300 meters per second. The newer Pantsir-S1M uses the 57E6M-E missile, which extends the reported range to 30 kilometers and has a stated top speed of about 1,700 meters per second.
Meanwhile, the FP-5, developed by Ukrainian defense company Fire Point, is a ground-launched, jet-powered cruise missile with a reported launch weight of about 6 tons.
Fire Point says it has a range of up to 3,000 kilometers and carries a warhead weighing about 1,150 kilograms. Its reported maximum speed is roughly 950 kilometers per hour, placing it in the subsonic category.
The missile is unusually large for a cruise missile, with a fuselage of about 12 meters and a wingspan of roughly 6 meters. Publicly available information indicates that it uses satellite and inertial navigation.
The latest engagement highlights a major improvement on how Russian air defenses are dealing with cruise missiles. Recent reports suggest that A-50U airborne early warning and control aircraft and even Su-57 stealth fighter jets are playing a key role in detecting this threat, although information on this is still very limited.
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one unit. it is a hard thing to hit a moving bullet with a bullet.
very wise words indeed. also fragments needs to catch up with the attacking missiles speed, and that alone can diminish their impact.