Situation with delivery of Patriot systems to Ukraine is intriguing. Serhii Zhurets' column

Prospects for supplies of Patriot systems to Ukraine

I'll start with an intriguing situation, namely the Patriot air defense system. On November 29, the American CNN company, citing a high-ranking representative of the Pentagon, reported that the United States is considering the possibility of supplying Ukraine with Patriot air defense systems in order to strengthen the air defense amid the constant threat of missile attacks by the Russian Federation. Let me remind you that Patriot is an American complex that, regardless of the version, can destroy ballistic targets at a distance of up to 40 km, as well as cruise missiles, aircraft, and drones at a distance of up to 160 km. This is a really powerful weapon, and the US Army has about 480 such systems in stock.

Ukraine has repeatedly appealed to the US about the possibility of obtaining such systems, and when the CNN report appeared, the hope immediately flared up that the hopes of our Air Force, which has long been waiting for modern weapons to shoot down enemy targets, are about to come true. But today, the Pentagon spokesman clarified the Patriot situation at a regular briefing and said that direct transfer of the Patriot air defense system to Ukraine is not currently being considered in Washington.

First of all, he explained this by the fact that such a weapon does not correspond to the Plug & Play category. It is about the fact that this is a complex system that requires significant integration and preparatory processes in order for these samples of weapons to be transferred to Ukraine. He was also asked about the F-16 and Abrams tanks.  And the answer was similar, that it is necessary to prepare Ukraine, so that these weapons would be transferred later.

But the question arises: when exactly should we take the first step on this long road, from the point of view of mastering such system samples of weapons, which we really need to increase the capabilities of our armed forces in countering enemy aggression and enemy missiles.

According to Oleksandr Los, the former head of the Antonov State Enterprise, Doctor of Technical Sciences, and now the captain of Ukraine's Armed Forces, since the beginning of the Russian aggression, there have been various statements from the political leadership of NATO and the US that certain weapons will never be handed over to us. And then strange things happened, and we received the most modern weapons. However, not to jinx, but there is a feeling and hope that the fact of transfer will happen.

During this time, it was already possible to start training some specialists. But the former head of the Antonov State Enterprise believes that the main obstacle remains political. We can claim that the US and NATO countries, protecting Ukraine from Russian aggression, did not immediately supply weapons in advance, but responded to the actions of the enemy. This escalation resulted in Ukraine gaining more and more military capabilities.

The air defense of each country is a separate huge scientific and technical work

Oleksandr Los noted that the illusory concept of air defense or missile defense is not a complete system, because there is no country's air defense that can be purchased and installed. This is a set or complex of disparate tools from suppliers of different countries, which must be integrated. That is why we need Ukrainian intelligence, knowledge, and a scientific base in order to assemble air defense and anti-missile defense within the borders of our country from the components of different generations. Accordingly, Ukraine has the ability to integrate into the control system, because it is mostly a computer network that needs to be connected to executive devices such as launchers, radar sensors or other airspace data collection sources.

It is necessary to start with the MANPADS operator, that is, at the branch level, combining with other branches of the military and other defense forces. It is necessary to create a separate set of measures and means to cover infrastructure facilities in each city. In our case, it is necessary to show engineering imagination, and sometimes even include intuition. Because there is no such thing as a finally created air defense or missile defense system. For each country, this is a huge scientific and technical work, which today is based not only on the creation of kinetic means of impression, but also on intelligence and the management system.

The captain of Ukraine's Armed Forces noted that American specialists would be ready and happy to hand over not only the F-16, but also the F-15 to Ukraine. After all, discussions are taking place again at the highest political level. In his opinion, we are supplied with means and defense forces post factum in proportion to Russian aggression. That is, our energy structure was hit, and we began to receive the appropriate air defense systems and help to restore this energy structure. Until such unpleasant things happened, there were only conversations, but this or that equipment was not delivered. Therefore, here we act as in aviation, where all laws are written in blood. Accordingly, not proactive, but reactive movement occurs with the supply of modern means, especially aviation ones.