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On May 5, 2023, Ukrainian specialized media Defense Express reported that Ukrainian forces managed to shoot down a Russian Kh-47M2 Kinzhal air-launched hypersonic weapon system on May 4 at around 2:40 am over Kiev.

As evidence, Defense Express produced two photos that allegedly show missile debris from the wreck.

At the time of writing, the debris has not been confirmed to be a Kinzhal. However, some of the debris depicted appears to resemble the warhead assembly of a Kinzhal or possibly a 9M723 Iskander missile.

Sollte sich die Echtheit bestätigen, wäre dies der erste erfolgreiche Abschuss einer Kinzhal. Dies hat große Aufmerksamkeit erregt, da viele Menschen den Eindruck haben, dass die Kinzhal als Hyperschallwaffe sehr schwer abgeschossen werden kann. Das hat Verteidigungsexperten dazu veranlasst, die Frage zu stellen, wie es zu diesem Abfangerfolg kommen konnte und welches Mittel zu einem solchen Abschuss in der Lage wäre.

While the author advises caution in drawing conclusions until better evidence is available, he can at least explain how such an interception would be possible. However, in order to be able to explain this correctly, a short crash course in hypersonic and missile defense is required.

A crash course in hypersonic technology

There are many misconceptions about what hypersonic missiles are, how they work, and what they are capable of.

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