The only way to win an atomic conflict is not to fight one in the first place
Yes, the Ukrainian military has had remarkable success with its American-made Patriot surface-to-air missiles – and has even shot down some of Russia’s vaunted Kinzhal hypersonic missiles.
No this does not mean the Patriot, or any other air-defense system, is ready to protect the United States and its allies from the most serious missile threats. It’s especially important to appreciate this reality in the aftermath of North Korea’s test-launch of a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile on Wednesday.
Even after plinking a few Russian hypersonic munitions, Western missile-defense systems are still more effective in theory than they are in reality.
If Ukraine’s repeated shoot-downs of incoming Kinzhals are any indication, Russia’s non-nuclear hypersonic missiles aren’t as scary as they may have appeared at first. When the Kinzhal – a 24-foot air-launched missile that travels up to 10 times the speed of sound – first appeared in 2018, Russian president Vladmir Putin declared it impervious to all existing air-defenses on account of its high speed.