According to a US defense official, Russia has fired off more than 1,100 missiles in its ongoing war with Ukraine, but many of them have failed on launch, malfunctioned in flight, or missed their targets.
According to a US official who spoke with the news agency on the condition of anonymity, US intelligence shows that Russia has a high failure rate for certain types of missiles. The failure rate was high according to two other officials.
An anonymous US Defense Intelligence Agency official told Newsweek that the US assesses Russian missile success to be 40%.
The official told Newsweek that two to three out of every ten missiles that the Russian military fires fail to launch or fail to reach their targets. Two out of ten people have technical problems in flight. Missiles are shot down.
The senior DIA official said that they are talking about under half of all Russian missiles hitting their aim points.
The failure rate for air-launched cruise missiles can range from 20% to 60% according to US intelligence. According to experts, anything over 20% is cause for concern.
According to USNI News, Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck told the Senate armed services subcommittee that newer, more advanced Russian missile systems are not performing as well as they could.
VanHerck told the panel that Russia has had challenges with some of their hypersonic missiles and that they have had issues with their cruise missiles.
Missile strikes against Ukraine have become a key feature of Russia's assault on its neighbor. Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Russian bombing of Ukraine does not stop.
Missile strikes have hit residential areas in Ukrainian cities, including in Kharkiv.
Nine people were killed this week in missile strikes in the region, according to the regional governor.
Synyehubov said in a post on Telegram that the enemy is once again frightening the civilian population.
US officials testifying before the Senate armed services strategic forces subcommittee said that Russia's missile use in Ukraine is the largest employment of missile systems in Europe since World War II.