United States decides to transfer Patriot air and missile defense systems to Ukraine Column by Serhiy Zgurets, CEO of Defense Express military expert group

The prospect of the Patriot air defense system appearing in Ukraine

After several months of Russian missile and drone attacks on cities, the power grid and the civilian infrastructure of our state, the United States still decided to transfer Patriot air and missile defense systems to Ukraine. The US presidential administration is finalizing a plan to transfer Patriot defense systems, which must be agreed upon with the Pentagon, taking into account many nuances. This has already been reported by American outlets. It was also stated that the issue of training future Ukrainian operators of these weapons at the US Army base in Germany had been resolved.

The number of Patriot air defense systems that can be transferred to Ukraine has not been announced. Today The Associated Press reported that the average cost of one Patriot complex is about $1 billion.

Raytheon produces the Patriot system with a rate of approximately one air defense system per month. The US Army has 480 such complexes in stock. It has yet to be discovered where this system will be transferred to Ukraine, either from the army's reserves or we will wait for production. This is one of the nuances that the Pentagon has to agree on at the administration's request, logistical support measures and training procedures for the Ukrainian military.

Patriot air defense system, which has been on the list of needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces for a long time, has two main features compared to what is currently in the arsenal of our air defense system. The first feature is the ability to destroy ballistic missiles with a range of 60 km. This means that Patriot is one of the few mass-produced missile defense systems. 

The second feature is the ability of this air defense system to destroy aerodynamic enemy targets. We mean aircraft and cruise missiles at a distance of up to 160 km. This will make it the most long-range air defense system in our defense system against Russian attacks.

The Patriot missile system is defensive, so it does not cause reservations in the Biden administration, as with ATACMS systems or Grey Eagle unmanned strike systems. We hope that this process will be implemented soon. This is the general background of this story with the Patriot air defense system for Ukraine.

Yuriy Ihnat, Speaker of the Ukrainian Air Force Command, noted that information about Patriot is good news for Ukrainians. These systems were considered earlier. There is a vision of the Air Force until 2035, where the Air Force was supposed to be re-equipped, including Patriot systems. The desired creation of the Ukrainian domestic air defense system soon is unlikely to succeed because it will take years and a lot of money.

There is no way out for the Ukrainian air defense system other than to rearm with NATO weapons, including the ground forces' air defense system. The infantry air defense system will be armed with Western models. NASAMS, IRIS-T and Patriot could become the basis of air defense and, together with the air defense of the ground forces, layered air defense in the future. The first steps have already been taken, NASAMS and IRIS-T are confidently fighting, and it is wanted to supplement them with Patriot systems. Meanwhile, we have information at the media level with their sources in the US. Still, I hope that there will be official statements soon. Units from the ground forces are currently studying abroad at the complexes that have already been transferred to us. We also know about the training of specialists for the Air Force. We are not talking about Patriot so far.

Air defense effectiveness against Iranian drones

Yesterday, the air defense system has once again demonstrated high efficiency in the fight against Iranian drones.

The Ukrainian Air Force Command speaker noted that Russian forces are doing everything under tracing paper. This is the third time they have released drones from the eastern part of the Sea of Azov, from the Krasnodar Territory. Each time they change their targets. This time, the central region of Ukraine, in particular the Kyiv region, was attacked. They attack at nighttime to make it impossible to visually link to the target and attract powerful weapons such as anti-aircraft missiles. 13 UAVs were shot down.

The Russians are attacking and no frosts interfere with the task of these barraging ammunition. We are talking only about non-flying weather, when there may be icing or heavy winds. It is also yet to be discovered whether it is an old batch or a new one. The task of the air and Defense Forces is to destroy these air targets.

To destroy Shahed 136, mobile groups, air defense systems and other means are involved. We work on Russian UAVs from the ground because it is extremely difficult to shoot down the fighters we have. You need to see the target and highlight it. That is why we need modern fighters that have powerful radar equipment, sighting systems and powerful weapons. Therefore, we expect aircraft-F16 fighters to strengthen the Air Force's aviation.