US warns of limited supply of Patriot missiles to Ukraine — NYT
The United States has warned Ukraine that they won’t be able to provide missiles for Ukraine’s Patriot air defense systems for much longer, U.S. newspaper The New York Times reported on Jan. 6.
The provided U.S. air defense systems have aided Ukraine in strengthening its defense against Russian attacks, particularly intercepting ballistic missiles reaching Kyiv within minutes. The Patriot successfully repelled an early morning attack on the capital on Dec. 11.
Major Volodymyr (only the first name is provided for security reasons), the commander of the Patriot battery, recounts that his team tracked Russian missile salvos from a mobile command post near Kyiv. The Patriot algorithms calculated their speed, altitude, and projected course, allowing the air defense missiles to systematically intercept the Russian missiles.
“Considering that Patriot is one of the few systems effectively countering ballistic missiles, and ballistic missiles cause the most casualties, I believe the saved lives during wartime are in the thousands,” said the major.
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However, despite this success, Russia intensifies its attacks, seeking new weapon combinations and trajectories to evade Ukrainian air defense.
“These attacks underscore Ukraine’s urgent need for air defense,” stated the NYT article.
“We need more systems and munitions for them,” he said.
But the White House and Pentagon officials have warned that the United States will soon be unable to keep Ukraine’s Patriot batteries supplied with interceptor missiles, due to their high cost, the NYT said.
The cost of one such missile can range from $2 to $4 million.
Ukraine has received various air defense systems from partners, ranging from portable Stinger and short-range SAM systems like the German Gepard to sophisticated long-range systems like the French SAMP/T, which can engage targets nearly 100 km away, and the American-Norwegian NASAMS. However, only the Patriot is designed to counter ballistic missiles.
“From the moment the first Patriot battery entered the combat space, they reshaped the battle for the skies,” the NYT said.
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Although Ukrainian defenders prevented Russia from gaining air superiority at the beginning of the 2022 invasion, Ukraine had nothing to intercept ballistic missiles until the arrival of the Patriot system.
As Russian strikes ravaged critical infrastructure across Ukraine in 2022, the U.S. Congress approved the first Patriot battery for Kyiv.
Major Volodymyr was among those who underwent training on the Patriot system in the U.S. After two additional weeks of training in Poland, he returned to Ukraine. In a few days, they tested the air defense system in combat, successfully intercepting the first Russian ballistic Kinzhal missile on May 4, 2023.
“It was quite unexpected,” he said.
“We had just returned from training and didn’t fully understand what we had just destroyed. Later, when we found out, our confidence in the equipment provided by our partners increased,” recalls Major Volodymyr.
During major attacks on Ukraine involving drones, cruise, and ballistic missiles, two Ukrainian Patriot batteries intercepted all 34 ballistic missiles launched by Russia at Kyiv in May-June.
“There were days when the guys barely had time to reload the launchers,” said Volodymyr.
Read also: The only option. How to protect Kharkiv.
The Patriot also played a crucial role in defending against complex bombardments, where Russia combines different weapons, launches missiles and UAVs along different trajectories, and employs decoys to confuse Ukrainian air defense.
The Patriot’s powerful radar has a range of over 150 km and can track up to 100 targets simultaneously. The radar is also resistant to electronic jamming.
Over the past year, Ukraine has created a “unified cooperation system,” allowing air defense units using different systems to utilize information gathered by Patriot and other advanced radars, said Leutenant Colonel Lyubov Kynal, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s central air-command wing.
“We all work as one organism,” Kynal said.
Read also: Ukraine to receive additional Patriot air defense systems
She added that the system elements constantly change location to avoid detection by the enemy.
While a Patriot battery requires a minimum of 70 trained soldiers to run and maintain, only two or three soldiers are needed in the control station to operate it in combat.
“When the alarm goes off, the full combat team arrives,” Major Volodymyr said.
“They can assemble in under five minutes.”
However, the NYT notes that Ukraine’s protection with Patriot is currently limited, covering only part of the bed, akin to a blanket.
“We managed to protect Kyiv, but at the same time, Odesa was being destroyed,” said Major Volodymyr.
Ukrainian commanders are now trying to plan for a future without knowing what weapons they may have at their disposal.
“We managed to create a shield over the state thanks to our foreign partners,” Major Volodymyr said.
“But if our foreign partners turn their backs on us, we will return to the beginning of the war, when people simply did not come out of their shelters and the Russians tried to turn our cities into complete ruins.”
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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
