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The US on Wednesday announced that it was sending a Patriot missile-defense battery to Ukraine, fulfilling a longstanding request from Kyiv to counter ongoing attacks by Russian aircraft and missiles.
The Patriot is considered one of the most capable long-range air-defense systems in service and as vital to defending Ukraine’s military and civilians, but officials and experts caution that there is only so much the Patriot itself can do to fend off that aerial assault.
The Patriot battery and accompanying munitions are part of a $1 billion package announced on Wednesday as a presidential drawdown, meaning its contents will be pulled directly from US stocks. It is only the latest air-defense weapon that the US has committed to Ukraine. Washington has previously pledged to send National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, Hawk air-defense systems, and Avenger air-defense systems.
While the decision to send the Patriot to Ukraine is a milestone, it will be some time before it is in use in Ukraine. A senior US defense official told reporters on Wednesday that there is not «a precise date» for when the battery would be transferred and acknowledged that there would be «a several-month training process.»
Training ranges from 13 weeks for the Patriot launch-system operator to 53 weeks for the system repairer. Ukraine could speed that up by sending troops who are trained on its other air-defense systems, but the US official said Wednesday that how many would be trained and where they would be trained was still undetermined.
