Tuesday, June 13, 2023, 11:14 pm
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Patriot Missile Systems/ Photo: raytheonmissilesanddefense.com
to us And the Patriot will develop air defense systems Ukraine The most popular hypersonic missiles RussiaDelivery of five additional systems to Kyiv by the end of 2024.
US defense contractor Raytheon Technologies, which leads the production of Patriot air defense systems, will increase its annual production to 12 Patriot systems, the company’s chief executive, Greg Hayes, told The Wall Street Journal.
“We were very surprised by its performance,” Hayes told the publication, referring to the Patriot system. So far, the US has supplied Ukraine with Patriot batteries and munitions, and Kiev operates two sophisticated air defense systems, the others supplied by Germany and the Netherlands.
Patriot systems have proven critical to Ukraine’s air defenses against Russian missiles. The mobile surface-to-air Patriot system is part of the country’s armor against various aerial threats, working alongside other systems Ukraine uses to defend its skies.
Hayes said Ukraine had modified the system’s software to intercept Moscow’s hypersonic missiles, which travel faster than other missiles launched by Kremlin forces. According to the manufacturer, Raytheon has produced more than 240 Patriot units, and the decades-old system has continued to be updated over the years.
In early May, Ukrainian anti-aircraft forces successfully shot down a Kiev “hypersonic tunnel missile. Ukraine used a Patriot system to shoot down the hypersonic missile,” a Ukrainian Air Force spokesman said at the time.
The Pentagon confirmed that Kiev “shot down a Russian missile using the Patriot missile defense system,” which it later said was a Kinzhal missile. Russia denied this.
However, questions remain as to whether the Kinchal missile is a true hypersonic weapon. According to Newsweek, “All indications are that the Kinzhal is an air-launched ballistic missile, although it may pose a significant threat to Ukraine.”
Kiev praised the patriot’s performance, saying Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov visited the war-torn country in April.
“Our beautiful Ukrainian skies are safe because patriotic air defense systems have arrived in Ukraine,” Reznikov wrote in a social media post.
“Patriot is one of the most advanced air defense systems in the world and will provide Ukraine with a critical long-range capability to defend its airspace,” a senior defense official said in December, when the US first said the system would be deployed.
However, US officials said in May that a Patriot system may have been damaged in the Russian attack. Ukraine denied this, but the US said the system had suffered “minor damage” and was now “operational”.
US sends Patriot air defense battery and ammunition to Ukraine Washington has sent equipment to integrate Western air defense systems into Ukrainian infrastructure, as well as equipment to support Kiev’s existing air defense capabilities, according to a fact sheet published last week.
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