How is the sophisticated Patriot anti-missile system that Ukraine received (can it change the course of the war?)

Ukraine confirmed on Wednesday that it received the promised Patriot missile defense system. With this, the European nation hopes to better protect itself from the constant bombardments of Russia. In this note we explain what this weapon is like and if it will serve to change the course of the war.

“Today our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes safer with the advent of air defense systems patriot to Ukrainesaid Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, who thanked the United States, Germany and the Netherlands for “keeping their word.”

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In December of last year, The United States promised to provide Ukraine with its modern Patriot system. The announcement came as Russia was constantly attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Soldiers stand in front of a Patriot surface-to-air missile system during a military exercise at the Babice airport in Warsaw, Poland, on February 7, 2023. (Photo by JANEK SKARZYNSKI / AFP) (JANEK SKARZYNSKI/)

This first Patriot missile system was shipped by Germany.

A Patriot system appeared on the German government website on Tuesday among war materials sent to Ukraine last week.

It should be noted that the United States forces have been training those of Ukraine in the use of patriotfor which 90 people are needed to operate and maintain each battery.

“Our air defenders have learned to use as much as they can. And our partners have kept their word.” said Minister Reznikov.

A US-made Patriot missile fires during training in Ilan county, 80 kilometers west of Taipei, Taiwan, on July 20, 2006. (Anonymous / Associated Press)

The AP agency explains that the patriot It is a surface-to-air guided missile system that was first deployed in the 1980s and that it can target aircraft, cruise missiles, and short-range ballistic missiles.

They became world famous when were used against Scud missilesof Russian manufacture, which were launched by Iraq during the first Gulf War in 1990. They are manufactured by the American company Raytheon Technologies.

each battery patriot it has a launch system that is mounted on a truck, with eight launchers that can hold up to four missile interceptors each, a ground radar, a control station, and a generator.

The range to the target is between 40 kilometers and 160 kilometers, depending on the type of missile used. The projectile can reach up to 24 kilometers of altitude.

The missile carries a 90-kilo warhead of high-powered fragmentation explosive.

The United States Army has 16 Patriot battalions. A 2018 International Institute for Strategic Studies report found that those battalions operate 50 batteries that have more than 1,200 missile interceptors, the AP reported.

In addition to the United States, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Taiwan, Greece, Spain, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Romania, Sweden, Poland, and Bahrain all operate their own Patriot systems.

The Patriot anti-missile system. (AFP).

According to experts consulted by AP, the effectiveness of the system is limited and could not change the course of the war in Ukrainealthough it will strengthen the arsenal of this country against the superiority of the Russians.

“It is one of the most widely operated, reliable and proven airborne missile defense systems in existence, and the surgical ballistic missile defense capability could help defend Ukraine against Iranian-supplied ballistic missiles”told the AP Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

A former senior military official told the AP that it will be effective against short-range ballistic missiles, but acknowledged that one battery will not change the course of the war.

He mentioned as an example that Patriots can effectively protect a small military base, but cannot fully protect a large city like kyiv.

He stressed that for optimal defense the patriot they are often deployed as a battalion, which includes four batteries. This will not be the case Ukraine, which for now only has one system.

In this file photo taken on March 25, 2014, German soldiers stand to attention in front of a Patriot missile launcher at the Gazi barracks in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey. (JOHN MACDOUGALL / AFP).

Currently, a missile patriot it costs about $4 million and the launchers are worth about $10 million each, the CSIS reported in its missile defense report from July last year.

The AP specifies that at that price it is neither profitable nor optimal to use the patriot to shoot down the Iranian drones that Russia has bought and is using in Ukraine. “Firing a million-dollar-plus missile at a $50,000 drone is not a good idea,” said Mark Cancian, a retired Marine Corps reserve colonel and senior CSIS adviser.

Also, a single battery patriot it may need up to 90 soldiers to operate and maintain it. According to the AP, US Army soldiers assigned to Patriot battalions receive extensive training to effectively locate a target, lock on it with radar, and fire.

A Ukrainian soldier walks past a destroyed Russian tank on the front line with Russian troops in the Donetsk region on September 28, 2022. (Anatolii Stepanov / AFP)

As well as Ukraine receives sophisticated weapons from the West, from the other side Russia is having a hard time making new weapons.

According to the US network CNN, the latest CSIS report highlights the problem Russia faces in building new tanks, citing Russian media reports. This is due to two factors: the number of tanks it is losing each month compared to what it can produce in that time period and a lack of modern hardware, especially due to international sanctions.

The report explains that one tank plant, UralVagonZavod, can produce around 20 tanks a month. But Russia loses, on average, almost 150 tanks of all types in the Ukraine every month.

Faced with this, Russia chooses to restore and put its decades-old tanks back into service because it simply does not have the resources to build new ones, and Western sanctions prevent it from obtaining the necessary parts and tools to assemble a modern tank.

Source: Elcomercio