US avers NASAMS have 100% success rate against Russia's missiles as war escalates in Kyiv

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has claimed that US NASAMS have a 100 percent success rate in intercepting incoming Russian missiles. NASAMS refers to the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, and these systems have been supplied to Kyiv. The war-torn country Ukraine is currently using these systems to protect its critical infrastructure from Russian missile strikes. 

Lloyd Austin made these statements whilst addressing a press briefing. He said that these systems are now operational in Ukraine and their performance has been "very impressive". NASAM sent to Ukraine "are now operational, and their performance so far has been very impressive," he said. Missile defence systems are generally not considered to have 100 percent accuracy. "The NASAMS systems had a 100 percent success rate in intercepting Russian missiles as the Kremlin continued its ruthless bombardment of Ukraine," claimed Austin. The US Defence Secretary added that the US will be sending more critical equipment to Kyiv, so that Ukraine can protect its critical infrastructure from Russian strikes. 

NASAMS was jointly developed by US and Norway

NASAMS was jointly developed by America's Raytheon and Norway's Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace. Currently, as per a report from Newsweek, 12 nations use NASAMS. Austin also stated that the missile strike on Poland was the result of Ukraine's malfunctioning defence system. As of now, evidence suggests it was a Soviet origin S300 missile defence system, which Ukraine uses. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has refused to accept that the strike on Poland occured due to malfunctioning Ukrainian missile defense system and he continues to blame Russia for it. 

US President Joe Biden has rejected Zelenskyy's claims by saying it is not what the evidence suggests. Meanwhile, as a result of Russia's missile strikes on Ukrainian cities, more than 40 percent of Ukraine's power grid has been damaged. Ukraine has urged western nations to send more missile defense systems. Ukraine is relying not just on NASAMS but HIMARS and other missile defence systems as well. HIMARS refers to the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, which Ukraine has been using to target Russia's command and control centres and key logistic hubs. Few months ago, during his trip to Europe, US defence secretary Lloyd Asutin had said that the US' goal in Ukraine was to destroy Russia's military capability.