Ukraine’s Metinvest Produces First Armored Protection for US Patriot System

Metinvest Group, a mining and metals company that belongs to Ukraine’s richest man Rinat Akhmetov as a part of SCM Holding, manufactured and assembled armored protection for the control module of the MIM-104 Patriot air defense system, the company wrote in its press release on Friday.

“Engineers from Metinvest have already mounted the first armor on an operational air defense control module,” the press release said.

Previously, Metinvest produced defensive steel screens for the Ukrainian T-64 and T-72 tanks, American M1 Abrams tanks, Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, and is getting ready to install screens on “various Leopard 2 modifications,” Metinvest wrote.

“To date, more than 300 screens have been delivered to the military,” the statement says.

For Patriots, Metinvest produced an armored shield for the command center of the Patriot SAM, which manages this air defense system.

“The protection for the crew against fragmentation damage is made of 30KhN2MA grade steel, which inherently possesses enhanced properties of wear resistance, strength, toughness and resistance to mechanical stress,” the press release said.

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According to Metinvest, the shield consists of 200 armored steel plates with a thickness of up to 8mm and its total weight exceeds 2.6 tons but “does not affect the system’s functionality or mobility.”