A US defense official responded in November that “all capabilities are on the table.”
He had been asked by reporters if the administration was considering supplying Ukraine with Patriot defensive batteries, some of the most sophisticated weapons available to the Pentagon. It seems that the reflection has now concluded with the arrival of General Winter and the repeated Russian aggression.
The US is finalizing the plan, according to various official sources, to provide Kyiv with the Patriot missile defense system, after months in which Russia has been launching missiles and drones – of Iranian origin – to bomb cities, the electrical grid and civil infrastructures of the invaded country. John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, replied that he neither confirmed nor denied this possible shipment.
But everything indicates that the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, will sign the directive to supply that weapon. The decision will then remain in the hands of President Joe Biden, who, if he signs his signature, as indicated, will mean sending the most important weapons system that his country will have sent to Ukraine since the Kremlin started this war ten months ago.
The Government of Volodimir Zelensky has been demanding the delivery of these missile batteries for some time, which has been accentuated with the arrival of cold weather and the multiplication of Russian attacks on the power lines in Ukraine, which have left much of the country in the dark and without heating. Of the territory.
How many shuttles the Pentagon can send has yet to be determined. Designed as a mobile defense system, the Patriot is produced by Raytheon Technologies Corp., with Lockheed Martin manufacturing the projectiles it fires.
The Kremlin already warned yesterday that this system will immediately become the target of its bombing if the Americans agree to its deployment in Ukraine. Dimitri Peskov, President Putin’s spokesman, said that such a system would “definitely” be his target, without forgetting the nuclear threat.
The Patriot system has the ability to intercept ballistic and surface missiles from miles away, and has been prized by US military officials around the world for its precision and long-range capability. It is considered the cornerstone of the US military, due to the rapid deployment of air defense devices and has been in high demand for years in the Middle East.
Washington has so far given Ukraine about $20 billion in military aid, but has refused to provide much of its most sophisticated weaponry for fear of escalating into a broader war with Russia. At no time has the possibility of sending the latest generation drones, called Gray Eagle MQ-1C and loaded with Hellfire rockets, or ATACMS long-range missiles, which would have the ability to reach Russian territory, been included.
Patriot missile batteries require teams of about 90 trained soldiers to operate them properly. Training takes about six months, although Pentagon sources believe that, in a dangerous situation, this could be compressed to half the time. This battery includes radar equipment that detects and tracks targets; computers, power-generating equipment, a combat control station, and up to eight shuttles, each with four shells at the ready.
There is reluctance in Congress because it is feared that this supply to Ukraine will leave the Americans without the Patriots they need for their own defense. According to these plans, revealed by CNN, the Patriots are expected to be shipped quickly. The Ukrainian military will be trained in its use at the US base in Grafenwöhr, in Germany.
These missiles achieved fame during the Gulf War in 1991. They were used to shoot down Iraqi Scud missiles. Later they had their role in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in the defense of the troops stationed there.
In more recent years, the United States has deployed Patriots to Saudi Arabia and Iraq to counter the threat from Iran-linked terror groups, as well as to the Pacific region from North Korean activity. More than a dozen US allies, including Germany, Japan and Israel, have purchased this system.
