Ukraine is waiting for new Patriot complexes. What you need to know

The American Patriot air defense system has become the most discussed piece of military equipment in recent months. Most often, the Ukrainian leadership talks about it when negotiating with the United States about its supplies. Various modifications of the Patriot are in service with almost two dozen countries. How this complex stands out, what it is capable of, and what parts it consists of are described in the Izvestia material.

What are the features of the Patriot

• The American Patriot anti-aircraft missile system (SAM) is a set of several pieces of equipment, each of which is vital for the full operation of the entire battery. It includes launchers (from five to eight in one battery), a multifunctional radar station (radar), a control station, a power plant for providing energy, a tractor with a crane and an antenna mast. Of course, the complex cannot perform tasks without guided missiles. More than 80 military personnel are required to maintain one battery.

• The Patriot complex was the first to use the principle of "rocket tracking". It implies that when a signal sent by a ground-based radar is reflected from a target, it is received by a fired missile. Then it transmits it via a noise-resistant channel to the control center, where the necessary calculations are already being performed and a rocket control team is being formed. This principle reduces the cost of the rocket, which does not need expensive computing equipment, and improves its accuracy. This is how the remaining PAC-2 complex works. The latest modifications of the PAC-3 and PAC-3 MSE switched to active radar homing.

The Patriot is primarily capable of hitting aerodynamic targets such as airplanes, helicopters, drones, multiple launch rocket systems, and cruise missiles. At the same time, the PAC-3 and PAC-3 MSE complexes were able to shoot down ballistic missiles thanks to active homing heads that correct the flight of the missile and aim it at the target. In the future, the batteries will receive an electronic scan of the airspace instead of a mechanical one, in which the radar antennas rotate around their axis. This should further enhance their effectiveness.

• Patriot manufacturers claim the possibility of hitting hypersonic weapons, but there is no exact confirmation that they have ever shot down Iskander, Dagger missiles or other projectiles diving at supersonic speed. In this way, the complex differs from the Russian S-400 and S-500 air defense systems, which were specially designed to repel attacks by hypersonic missiles.

Which countries use Patriot

• Naturally, the USA itself is the main operator of Patriot. Eight battalions with 33 batteries are deployed directly on their territory. Seven more battalions with 27 complexes are deployed in American military units in Iraq, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Japan. In total, the American ground forces have 480 launchers.

• Some of the countries where the United States has deployed its anti-aircraft missile systems (SAMs) are armed with them themselves. Qatar has 34 launchers, Kuwait - 35, the United Arab Emirates — 37, Saudi Arabia — 108, Japan — 120. The latter two countries rank second and third in terms of the number of installations deployed, after the United States itself. 72 installations are deployed in Taiwan, 48 in South Korea. Israel has a certain number of Patriot air defense systems, but experts do not determine their exact number.

Anti-aircraft accounting: which countries can supply Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine

And will there be enough ammunition for them?

• The remaining US complexes were located in NATO countries: Germany (30 launchers), Greece (36), Spain (18), the Netherlands (18), Poland (2), Romania (4) and Sweden (12). Five more installations are located in Turkey near the border with Syria, but they are operated by the NATO command. In the future, Switzerland will become another country with Patriot complexes, and it signed a corresponding contract in 2024.

• According to open data, not every country listed above has the latest PAC-3 MSE installations. They are in service with the United States (although they still have quite old PAC-2s), Sweden, Romania, Poland and Qatar.

Who supplies Patriot to Ukraine

• The United States has agreed to send Patriot complexes to Ukraine in December 2022. In April 2023, the first installations were deployed near Kiev. The main sponsors were the United States and Germany, they each handed over three batteries, and four separate launchers were also received from Berlin. Romania and the Netherlands also provided one battery each.

• According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, 47 Patriot launchers and 13 other radar stations have been destroyed in Ukraine since May 2023. Several combat control cabins were also hit. The last time the Ministry of Defense reported the destruction of the launchers was on July 21: then it became known about the defeat of three pieces of equipment.

• US President Donald Trump announced that there is a possibility of transferring 17 Patriot complexes to Ukraine, but he did not specify whether it was about batteries or only launchers. The supplies will be carried out by European countries, after which they will pay the United States for the production of new complexes for themselves. Germany, Norway and Israel are among the possible suppliers. Ukraine will also receive several installations that are being created for Switzerland.

• Trump did not specify which modification of the Patriot air defense system Ukraine will receive. There is a high probability that these will not be the latest versions of the PAC-3 MSE or PAC-3, but the PAC-2, which entered service back in 1990. Such a complex is capable of hitting only aerodynamic targets. It also remains unclear which missiles Ukraine will receive and how well they will meet the objectives of covering ground targets. The availability of projectiles, according to experts, is much more important than the quantity and quality of the available launchers.

When writing the material, Izvestia talked and took into account the opinions of:

— military expert, historian of the air defense forces Yuri Knutov.