Russia has ramped up ballistic strikes on Ukraine using repurposed S-400 missiles – Reuters
Russia has ramped up ballistic strikes on Ukraine using repurposed S-400 missiles – Reuters
New data on Russian missile strikes shows that Russia has been increasingly using RM-48U missiles, originally designed as targets for air-defence crews, against Ukraine.
Source: Reuters, citing official Ukrainian data
Quote: "RM48Us made up more than half of the 228 ballistic and hypersonic missiles fired at Ukraine in July and early August, according to the figures compiled by military analysts at the General Prosecutor's Office."
Details: Reuters reported that in July Russia used the highest number of ballistic and hypersonic missiles in a single month since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Quote: "Of those 158 strikes, 87 were from RM48Us, the data showed. The pace of the aerial assault has only intensified; there were 70 Russian ballistic and hypersonic strikes in the first eight days of August, the Ukrainian data showed, with 36 of them from RM48Us."
More details: The mass use of RM-48Us could be intended to deplete Ukraine's stockpiles of interceptor missiles, said Sidharth Kaushal, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a London-based defence think tank.
"Their use allows the Russians to husband the more capable missiles they have, the Iskanders, but also the KN-23s and the Zircons, for winter when they would want to really lean into their ballistic missile campaign," Kaushal said.
Reuters also points to a shift in the ratio of RM-48U missiles to Iskander-system missiles used by Russia.
Quote: "Indeed, as the RM48U attacks surged in July, the number of Iskanders fired fell to 38 from more than 100 the previous month, the Ukrainian data showed."
More details: "RM" stands for "raketa mishen", meaning "missile target" in Russian. RM-48Us are launched from Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems. The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office and Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) say the missile travels along a high-speed ballistic trajectory. The Prosecutor General's Office noted that the RM-48U is less powerful and accurate than Iskander ballistic missiles.
The Prosecutor General's Office said military experts have also established that RM-48Us deviate from their intended target by an average of around 300 m. Their warheads can also scatter metal fragments over a wide area when they detonate.
DIU reported that Russia plans to produce over 480 RM-48Us this year, more than double the 200-plus missiles it manufactured last year.
Background: DIU recently revealed the structure and component base of the Russian RM-48U missile, as well as the companies involved in its production.
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