Petro Chernyk: “There are more than a thousand Patriot SAMs in the world. The stumbling block is Trump’s war against Biden”
12 April 2024 15:15
ЕКСКЛЮЗИВ
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has called on foreign partners to transfer at least seven more Patriot air defence systems to Ukraine. According to him, Ukraine has scouted about a hundred systems that are not used in different countries and could easily be transferred to Ukraine. Komersant ukrainskyi 
asked military expert Petro Chernyk how many Patriot systems there are in the world and why they are not being transferred to Ukraine.
“Since the 1980s, more than a thousand Patriot systems have been produced. The Americans have at least 600. And there are quite a few in the world… It takes a month or two to upgrade and deliver, no more. The technology is very advanced,”
– says the expert.
But one of the peculiarities of the United States, he adds, is that the American military-industrial complex is in private hands.
“How does the American system work? It’s not like in most countries: the state has made a decision – a plant here, a plant there. The Americans have everything in private ownership. All weapons produced, without exception, are manufactured by private companies. There are, roughly speaking, 600 installations, but they need to be modernised, restored, radar stations and so on. And private companies work for money, so that’s the maths. The $61 billion we are waiting for must be transferred to the manufacturer, who will use this money to upgrade and refine even those systems that are already in the US Army’s warehouses, and only then will everything be handed over,”
– chernyk said.
The expert is confident that the US will provide financial assistance, but it is not clear when this will happen.
“The stumbling block is Trump’s war against Biden. Trump’s approach is simple: the better he is, the worse Biden is. It doesn’t matter what the cost, even if tens of thousands of Ukrainians die a day, he doesn’t care. This is the reality,”
– believes Petro Chernyk.
Patriot
The Patriot air defence system is one of the most effective and advanced air defence systems in the world. First developed in the United States, the Patriot has been in service since 1981 and has since become an important element of defence in many countries around the world.
The main purpose of the Patriot air defence system is to protect against airborne threats such as aircraft, missiles and drones. The system includes a variety of components, including radars for target detection, anti-aircraft missiles for target destruction, and command and control systems for coordination. One of the key advantages of the Patriot system is its manoeuvrability and ability to operate in a variety of conditions and environments, including weather, nighttime and densely populated urban areas.
It is believed that the first combat use of Patriot took place on 18 January 1991 during the Gulf War. Throughout the war, the systems attempted to hit about 40 ballistic missiles. Observers are inclined to believe that the Patriots did not perform very well – they probably did not hit any of the targets. Later, Patriot was successfully used during the 2003 Iraq war, the conflict in Yemen, and so on.
However, before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Patriot’s ability to shoot down ballistic missiles was only theoretical. Today, Ukrainian air defences sometimes shoot down Russian ballistic missiles, and it is very likely that they do so thanks to Patriot systems.
Today, Patriot is in service in the Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Japan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Taiwan, Greece, Spain, the UAE, Qatar, Romania, Sweden, South Korea, Turkey, and Ukraine.
