What is the Patriot missile defence system that US plans to send Ukraine? Know details

The US is poised to approve sending a Patriot missile battery to Ukraine, finally agreeing to an urgent request from Ukrainian leaders desperate for more robust weapons to shoot down incoming Russian missiles, U.S. officials said Tuesday. The approval is likely to come later this week and could be announced as early as December 15, said three officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision is not final and has not been made public. Two of the officials said the Patriot will come from Pentagon stocks and be moved from another country overseas, reported AP. 

Ukraine has been seeking patriot missile defense systems and other defense systems for quite some time. Now, two senior US officials have informed CNN that the Biden administration is finalising a roadmap to send Patriot missile defence systems to Ukraine. The CNN report states that the decision could be announced as soon as this week. After the plans are finalised, Ukrainian soldiers will be trained to use them at an American base in Germany. It is to mention that the decision to send Patriot missile defence systems to Ukraine still needs approval from US defence secretary Lloyd Austin and President Joe Biden. It takes months of training for soldiers to learn how to properly operate the Patriot missile defence system.

What is the Patriot defence system?

The Patriot air defence missile system – Patriot stands for “Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept of Target” – is designed to counter and destroy incoming short-range ballistic missiles, advanced aircraft and cruise missiles. The MIM-104 Patriot, as it is named, is the United States Army’s main air and missile defence system. It started out as an anti-aircraft system, but over the years, newer variants are capable of engaging ballistic and cruise missiles, loitering munitions, and aircraft.

Manufactured by the US defence contractor Raytheon, the Patriot is in service with the US and allied countries including Germany, Greece, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Poland, Sweden, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Romania, Spain, and Taiwan. The battery includes missiles and launching stations, a radar set that detects and tracks targets, and an engagement control station, according to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance. It was first developed in the early ’60s to replace both the Nike Hercules and Hawk air defence missile systems. The US Army named the program Surface-to-Air Missile, Development (SAM-D) and the first tests occurred in 1969 and 1970. Following several tests, the US Army activated its first Patriot missile battalion in May 1982.

The US, seeking to avoid direct involvement in Ukraine – which is not a member of NATO and therefore not subject to the pact’s collective defence agreement, in which an attack on one aligned nation is considered an attack on all – has repeatedly stressed that the deployment is only for defensive purposes. “This defensive deployment is being conducted proactively to counter any potential threat to U.S. and Allied forces and NATO territory,” Capt. Adam Miller, spokesman for US European Command, said in a statement Tuesday. “This is a prudent force protection measure that underpins our commitment to Article Five and will in no way support any offensive operations.”