After some uncertainty, Air Force Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Mykola Oleschuk says a Kinzhal “hypersonic” missile was shot down over Kiev. An American-made Patriot would have hit the Russian missile, as also claimed by the Americans. A journalist from the German newspaper Bild publishes a video with the remains of several missiles shot down by the Kiev army, including that of the Kinzhal missile. Several users claim that the remainder captured in the video is too small compared to the missile and that it is a device known as the Russian BETAB-500, accusing the Ukrainians of having spread the fake.
For those in a hurry
- The object shown in the video is not at all similar to a BETAB-500, the structure is different.
- The Ukrainians report that object is an internal component of the missile.
- The comparison with a Kinzhal installed in a Mig-31 is not useful for the purposes of verification, as the missile splits during flight and hits the target only with the front part where the warhead is contained.
- Many missiles, both Russian and American, contain a missile-shaped warhead inside them like that of the object captured in the video.
- The object is identical to another found in Russia and identified as part of a Kinzhal.
Analyses
Let’s start from a first theory, the one that sees the video object indicated as a BETAB-500:
The hypersonic Russian “Dagger” allegedly shot down by the Ukrainians from Patriot SAMs – and Pentagon representatives confirmed this – turned out to be a BetAB-500ShP concrete bomb without a missile part (c) Peremoga(“Victory” in Ukrainian) yes is smoothly transformed into a zrada (“Failure”). (Uncle Slava is the only officer. Subscribe.)
A similar text was published by Nicolai Lilin’s Youtube channel and then taken up on Facebook:
Nicolai Lilin telegram
The mayor of Kiev, a former boxer Klichko, shows German journalists the remains of the hypersonic missile “Kinjal”, explaining that the Ukrainian anti-aircraft units shot it down with a US Patriot missile, despite flying with extraordinary speed.
To me that piece of iron near which Klichco is filmed reminds me instead of the front part of the aerial release bomb with the anti-bunker effect, specialized in destroying solid structures in concrete, BetAB-500ShP, without missile part.
The missile charge located at the rear of the bomb weighs approximately 17.2 kg including fuel material and serves to give the bomb an additional velocity of 210 m/s., which gives the bomb the greatest kinetic force during impact for effectively penetrate extremely solid structures.
It is not a BETAB-500
According to several users, it would instead be a BETAB-500, a smaller missile than the Kinzhal. Here is one of https://twitter.com/Military9News/status/1656488739110289413 which are proposed to support the theory:
Just look at the red and blue arrows to understand that the two objects are not the same. According to the indications in the image, the two holes of the object filmed in the video would have something to do with the two “hooks” present in the BETAB bomb, but they do not coincide at all: the distance between the “hooks” is not the same as is between the two holes. Furthermore, the positions of the writings do not even coincide.
The Russian photo
On September 14, 2022, the governor of Stavropol, in southwestern Russia, published some photos of an object that crashed in his territory. In a photo taken on the spot, published the same day on the Russian site Bloknot.ru, we can see a piece identical to the one shown in Kiev. According to InfomNapalm’s OSINT group, based on an analysis of the remains, it would belong to a Kinzhal missile.
The workings of a Kinzhal
The Kinzhal missile, built on the basis of the ground-launched Iskander-M short-range ballistic missiles, is installed in a MiG-31 and then launched in flight. As with Iskander, the warhead can be either conventional or nuclear.
Several users compare the piece filmed in Kiev with a Kinzhal installed in a Russian aircraft to show the difference in shape and size:
Above the Russian hypersonic missile Kh-47M2 “Kinzhal”, below “Kinzhal” they shot down the anti-aircraft forces of Kiev. There are two variants: either the Russian missile radically changes its shape and structure during hypersonic flight, or the Ukrainian authorities mass consume some substance that has a very heavy effect on ocular and mental activity.
Indeed a Kinzhal “changes” (in quotes) during flight. On August 23, 2022, the Russian site IZ.ru published a “tutorial” video on the functioning of the Kinzhal missiles. In fact, it is not possible for the entire missile installed in the Mig to reach its target, but only the part containing the warhead.
The header
In the https://twitter.com/ronzheimer/status/1656289377129988096 released by Paul Ronzheimer (Bild) we notice a plate at the bottom left where it is indicated that the piece shown is an internal component of the Kinzhal missile the racket complex H- 47М2 “Кинжал” »). In fact, the Ukrainians are not claiming that piece is “the missile”, but a component of it.
Let’s take an example. The shape of the warhead of a Russian P-270 Moskit resembles a small missile (point 3 in the image below), but kept inside what we can define as a fairing.
It is not a Russian prerogative. In AGM-154 missiles we can find a BLU-111 bullet-shaped warhead placed inside it.
Consider a missile closest to the Kinzhal. The warheads present in Iskander (Искандер) missiles can be single (above in the image below) or multiple (below). In the first case, i.e. that of the single warhead, it has a shape that resembles that of a bullet.
Being a recent missile, it is not known how exactly it is composed and we rely on the fact that it was made on the basis of the old Iskanders. The Russian site Techinsider.ru publishes an article on March 26, 2022 where a probable scheme of the missile is proposed where the area containing the warhead is indicated.
Conclusions
They accuse the Ukrainians of displaying a BETAB-500 bomb to claim they shot down a Kinzhal missile, but the theory is debunked by the very images used to prove it. The filmed object is indicated by Kiev as one of the components of the missile and is similar to the warheads installed in other Russian missiles. The imaged object resembles the one found in Russia in 2022 and identified as a Kinzhal missile.
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