Ukrainian Patriot air defence systems have been experiencing greater difficulties in intercepting Russian ballistic missiles because they now fly on quasi-ballistic trajectories and can approach targets from multiple directions. Source: Yurii Ihnat, Head of the Public Communications Department of Ukraine's Air Force Command, on the national joint 24/7 newscast Details: Ihnat mentioned a recent Financial Times article which reported that Russia has managed to modify its ballistic missiles to better evade Ukrainian air defences. Advertisement: He noted that this topic is not new and has been discussed in detail in the past. Quote: "Of course it is more difficult to counter missiles flying on a quasi-ballistic trajectory – they oscillate as they approach the target. This makes the work of the Patriot system more complicated because it operates in automatic mode when engaging ballistic missiles. It becomes harder to calculate the point at which the interceptor collides with or explodes near the incoming missile. In addition, when ballistic missiles can approach from different directions, a single system cannot detect all of them – you need several systems, multiple radars, to cover a city from various angles." Background: On 2 October, the Financial Times reported that Russia has likely modified its mobile Iskander-M system, which fires missiles with a range of up to 500 km, as well as the air-launched Kinzhal ballistic missiles, which can travel up to 480 km. These missiles now follow a conventional trajectory before changing course and diving steeply or manoeuvring in ways that confuse and evade Patriot interceptors. The FT said that Ukraine's interception rate for ballistic missiles had improved over the summer, reaching 37% in August, but it plummeted to just 6% in September, despite fewer launches. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!