The “Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept on Target” (PATRIOT) surface-to-air guided air and missile defense system was advertised as one of the best available, based on its test performances long before it was used “in anger.”
The first Patriots were deployed by US Forces in the mid-1980s and during the first Gulf War they performed well against the Iraqi Scud missile threat. Since then, the system – its radars, fire control systems and especially its missiles – has evolved, been modernized, and upgraded as the threat has similarly become technologically more advanced.
Even so, the performance of the “2020s” versions has surprised everyone and underlined their indispensability as the basis for a modern multi-tier air defense structure. It is not only in Ukraine that Patriot has proved itself.
In Saudi Arabia, it has succeeded in bringing down multiple ballistic missiles fired by Houthi rebels against oil and infrastructure facilities and has been used extensively in Israel against drone, missile and air attacks.
In Ukraine, the missile has been successfully used defensively, against all types of air attack including cruise, ballistic and even hypersonic missiles. It has also been used in an innovative semi-mobile aggressive role to take down key aviation assets such as the high-value A-50U “Mainstay” airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft.
The bottom line is Ukraine doesn’t have enough of either launchers or missiles to protect itself against the current levels of Russian missile attacks. On April 6 President Volodymyr Zelensky said that to fully protect Ukraine from Russian missile attacks 25 Patriot systems, each consisting of 6-8 missile batteries, were needed.
Ukraine - How is Belgium Allowed to Get Away With This?
On Wednesday, April 10, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba said that he and his team had identified 100 Patriot systems being held worldwide. He said that some neighboring countries were using more than one complete system to guard a single airport. This was a follow-up to similar comments he had made while attending NATO’s 75th anniversary celebrations on April 3.
System Description
Patriot has four operational functions: communications, command and control, radar surveillance and interceptor missile guidance.
Each battery consists of six major components: power plant, radar set, engagement control station, launchers, antenna mast group, and the interceptor missiles themselves.
- The phased array radar set is resistant to jamming to provide detection and tracking of targets, fire control and helps guide interceptors to their targets.
- The manned engagement control station calculates trajectories for interceptors, controls the launching sequence and provides a communication link between launchers and other batteries.
- The launchers transport and protect the interceptor missiles and act as the missile launch platform.
- The antenna mast group is the communications backbone for the Patriot unit.
- There are two main missile types: the proximity-fused PAC-2 and the PAC-3 “hittile,” designed to intercept and destroy missiles by impacting them.
Who has Patriots?
Raytheon, that US defense contractor that designed and built the system, says it has delivered more than 240 Patriot fire units to 19 nations, while Lockheed Martin, the other US defense giant, has manufactured more than 10,000 missiles. By all accounts, the war in Ukraine is resulting in both corporations ramping up their manufacturing capability, not just to feed Ukraine’s needs but to address the interest the success of Patriot has sparked worldwide.
Persuading any nation which hasn’t already done so to voluntarily give up its Patriot missiles may be a challenge, but there is a potential solution.
As a result of the ongoing war in Ukraine and at the urging of the US government, both Raytheon and Lockheed Martin have increased their build capacity, as have component manufacturers such as Boeing, according to Defense News.
Raytheon is now able to produce 12 complete systems a year while Lockheed is already churning out 500 of the latest PAC-3 missiles annually with a target to get to 650 by 2027.
Some of its 2024 production has already been earmarked to replace US Patriots previously provided to Ukraine and this could be an option to any nation ready to transfer their own stocks. The attraction would be “new for old,” which has been the basis for many of the equipment donations previously made to Ukraine during the two years of the ongoing war.
With the European Parliament applying pressure on European holders of the systems to release Patriots by blocking the EU Council Budget, there are several users who don’t currently face an imminent threat, who might be better placed to ante-up. The key to achieving this would be finding the best combination of “carrot and stick” to encourage release of the Patriots.
The bottom line is that, as always, the best way forward will rely on the release of the funds currently blocked by the US Congress, although Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Dmitry Kuleba, has indicated that if the weapons became available Ukraine would find the funding needed to hire systems if not buy them.
You can also highlight the text and press Ctrl + Enter
Comments (16)
Would Ukraine be able to competently man and operate an additional 25 systems though? Glory to Ukraine!
@MRGA troll jack CONTINUES TO DEMONSTRATE HE DOES NOT UNDERSTAND,
Sorry Troll 'jack, but we've already been through this and you are still wrong...like about 22 times.
The Senate republicans got the border security fixes they requested from the Democrat government in exchange for approving the Ukraine (and Israeli and Taiwan) aid Biden requested. However as per putins' desire, putinrump commanded his MRGA minions in the House not to approve anything concerning the border as he did not want the problem fixed during the Biden admin. Seems it was not such a big problem for the GOP after all. They lied though, saying it could wait for 10 months for blackmailer putinrump to get re-elected (lord forbid).
MRGA always lies. There is nothing that can be offered the MRGA party that will stop their attempts to prevent Ukraine AID. MRGA reps like putinrump and MGT say this directly; others leading the RNC now call Ukraine one of their 3 enemies (China and Iran being the other two). They decided russia was not their enemy and left it off their list. putinrump actually states in public "not a penny" for Ukraine and most recently tells them to surrender their russian invaded territories.
Thats how despicable the MRGA cult you worship is. The stupidity of you trolls showing up here still promoting putinrump is of epic proportions.
MRGA=MAGA=putin=putinrump=troll 'jack'=ENEMY OF UKRAINE.
@putinrump BRIBE WOULD RATHER BUY VOTES THAN AID UKRAINE,
...and putintrump would give Ukraine nothing, and his RNC now lists Ukraine an enemy. Outrageous.
Biden = better than putinrump.
@Delta,
WRONG MRGA troll.
Ukraine, as with their 75 allies, want russia to pay for all war related costs. We will start with the russia state assets which have been frozen, then that of the putin crony kleptocrats that still support him. As these control 85% or russian wealth that should cover it. If not then russian resources can continue to be cost restricted to reduce their purchase price.
Putin only ever needed to withdraw his invading forces from Sovereign nation Ukraine's legal boarders (that includes Crimea), to prevent the war costs from running so high.
The russian people have still not stopped their madman, so their bill grows higher each day.
Swapping old for new while leasing a complete system to Ukraine should appeal to many countries. Ukraine should also manufacture the PAC3 missiles.
Delusional thinking from Zelensky. 25? Why not 500?! Who'll pay for this expensive system? Ukraine has been plundered by oligarchs (and lesser corrupt ukrainians ) and now wants the world to pay the bill. You should have been spending a substantial percentage of your GDP on defence over decades to build this capability! Now you'll just be stuck with leftovers while the country gets pummeled and Ukraine is at the whims of political decisions in Western capitals...
Cathy Pacific, please do not abandon the Kyiv Post comment threads. Your knowledgeable, principled input is critically needed. Don't allow the arrogant butt-ignorant idiots dissuade you from offering your two cents, or more accurately, $2 million dollar posts. You rock gal.
It is presidential campaign season in the United States. How can you tell? Joe BRIBEn has announced he is going to forgive $7.7 billion dollars in Federal student loans. Joe BRIBEn is simply buying votes.
So how much does one Patriot battery system cost? $1.1 billion.
Joe BRIBEn could furnish Ukraine with 7 Patriot batteries instead of buying votes.
And what Joe BRIBEn is doing has been ruled UNCONSTITUTIONAL by the United States Supreme Court as it is Congress who is constitutionally assigned the responsibility for such financial actions.
Joe BRIBEn can send the seven, hell, he can send twenty-five Patriot batteries as he is the Commander in Chief.
You Trump Derangement Syndrome nutcases are a piece of work.
Can anyone imagine living in the type of culture that produces the MRGA trolls?
First putins' thug regime lie to debase the humanity of a peaceful neighbour. They invade, steal and murder their people. They kidnap their children, They blow up their civilian infrastructure. When they capture Ukraine's couragious defending soldiers they torture and execute them. They observe no international or basic laws of humanity. Then after doing all that, their MRGA trolls spread more lies and insult their victims further.
It's hard to imagine a culture of such foul nature could still exist in a modern civilized world. What redeemable trait does a russian orc or troll illustrate? They only serve their mad leaders greed. They sow only hate, destruction and death. The world has placated putin's thug regime too long.
Until this war I expect most foreigners never thought much about either nation. Now we see Ukrainians illustrating the best humans can be....running to the aid of victims even as the tyrant launches its 'double tap'. strike. The medical staff working around the clock to save lives. The teachers sheltering children from horrors they should never have faced. The Ukrainian soldiers heroically defending all these. Self sacrifice for a benevolent purpose.
Ukraine supporters, we are so clearly supporting the right side of humanity. Thank you all!
Next you will demand F-35’s and 3,000 nukes to replace the ones you gave to Putin.
So you anti Republican/anti Trump folks, why does Joe BRIBEn not establish a lend-lease program and ship 25 more PATRIOT systems to Ukraine? As the Commander of Chief of the United States Armed Forces, Joe BRIBEn does not need Congressional approval to take such an action. Joe BRIBEn is the true and actual danger to Ukraine folks. Plain and simple. He is Putrid's puppet. That's why Putrid gave Joe BRIBEn his full endorsement to be President for another four years as he stated, he can work with Joe BRIBEn.
What happened to the Patriots Ukraine already had? Were they blown up by Russian ballistic missiles? Wouldn't that defeat the purpose?
Ukraine should receive all the missile defense they need to live safely. The west could reduce the missile defense Ukraine needs by providing Ukraine with large quantities of of long range weapons to neutralize Russian weapons and weapons manufacturing before Russia has an opportunity to launch them at Ukraine.
Western taxpayers invested trillions of dollars over 70 years to buy weapons to stop Russian aggression. These weapons are far more effective in Ukraine than sitting in warehouses collecting dust.
Which fool produced this list? There is no Patriot System in Switzerland. Not a single one. One is ordered and will be delivered in a few years.
@peter,https://www.defensenews.com/land/2023/11/01/switzerland-becomes-newest-customer-of-most-advanced-patriot-missile/
@Steve Brown, There is one Patriot System and maybe a naming issue 2 small PAC-2 GEM-T called Patriot too. Those are more or less for Drones and low flying objects. 5 Launch Plattforms. Delivery date we think 2028
But none of them is installed or delivered. Therefore the number for Switzerland is zero
For Germany I think the correct number should be 10. Originally 12 Systems and 2 delivered to Ukraine. For all Nato Countries, there are contractual obligation to keep a number of systems available. Meaning those are not available for Ukraine.
We moeten van de afhankelijkheid van de laffe VS af! De dubbele agenda brengt Europa in gevaar. Geef mij maar Macron.
@D.G, Macron is van plan on franse soldaten in Ukraine in te zetten, die worden gelijk afgeslacht in Ukraine zodra ze aankomen!
@Johan, Allied strength in numbers, technology, skill and moral purpose will prevail. Ukraine now has aid support from 75 nations (moral / legal support of 143 nations in UN)
With France already now stands 5 other allied nations (Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland) also open to 'boots on the ground'. I'll bet many of the other EU nations (30 contributing more than USA on GDP % basis) are also very close. Canadians including myself are pressuring our government as well.
France is the worlds' 2nd highest weapons exporter (11%). Russia (10%) was number 3. 'Neutral' China is next at 6%, but very closely followed by UK, Spain and Italy each >5%. Together those 4 European nations represent >25% of global capability. Who will the US side with....the side representing its largest trading block, or russia?
Are the russian people willing to sacrifice exponentially more than their current losses to support their madman's attempt at stealing an western allied country? Russia does not have a snowballs chance in hell of winning the war.
The most affluent nations in the world are fed up with decades of the costly hybrid war putin has waged against them. Actively supporting Ukraine's victory finally allows us a legal opportunity to make putin's thug regime impotent. Its days are numbered.
@Johan, Bullshit Johan. Are you one of those chicken shit French soldiers who would rather surrender than fight?
I don't understand how the USA can have 1000 Lunchers.....500 of which are stored in reserve, and yet not deliver to Ukraine the one Canada bought for that purpose over a year ago.
To my knowledge Canada still can't even get an ETA from Raytheon as to when they will start construction of the one we paid cash up front for (+400 million) last year solely to donate to Ukraine.
Why can't the USA in the interim ship one of their 500 reserve units presently collecting dust? Whenever Raytheon learns how to fullfill its delinquent contracts, they can ship a nice shiny new one back into the USA's reserve inventory.
I'm sure other allies face a similar Raytheon caused delay dilemma in their intended Patriot donations. Without it costing its taxpayers anything, the USA government could send its old stock, which the allies existing new orders to Raytheon could latter backfill. Heck the USA would be getting new stock for old....they come out ahead.
@John, You could have simply stopped at "I don't understand" and leave it at that. You are a shameless, arrogant, narcissistic dumbshit. See the comment up above that offers an effective solution. Dumbshit asshole that you truly are.