Interception of Russian Kh-101 cruise missile by American MIM-23 Hawk SAM system caught on video
The competition (rivalry) between Soviet/Russian and Western weapons continues. An interesting video has appeared on the Internet, which shows footage of the interception of a modernized Russian strategic cruise missile Kh-101 class "air-to-ground" using of technologies reducing the radar signature of the American MIM-23 I-Hawk medium-range anti-aircraft missile (SAM) surface-to-air missile system (SAM).
It should be noted that it is not yet known when this video was filmed. Definitely not today. At the same time, it clearly demonstrates an improved version of the Kh-101 with an improved optical-electronic guidance system, which began to be used in November 2023 and is called "Product 504AP".
The short frames themselves serve as proof of this. In them, one can see how, a second before interception, decoys are automatically fired from the L-504 passive interference unit, releasing small clouds of dipole reflectors to hinder the operation of the enemy's radar.
Therefore, the Russian munition is definitely recent. It is difficult to determine what age category the American interceptor missile belongs to. But it is probably not from 1959, when the MIM-23 I-Hawk entered service, but a more modern version. Ukraine has at least 6 Hawk PIP Phase III launchers.
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