“Homegrown ballistics” is a long-standing myth: Serhiy Khlan warned against harboring illusions about a quick alternative to the Patriot system

14 August 19:42

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Ukraine has faced a complete failure in shooting down Russian ballistic missiles due to a severe shortage of missiles for the Patriot systems. Claims that a domestic equivalent of a missile defense system will appear soon are a dangerous illusion, since developing such technologies takes years. Serhiy Khlan, a member of the 8th convocation of the Ukrainian Parliament, a member of the Kherson Regional Council, and a combat veteran, made this statement in an interview with the YouTube channel "Komersant Ukrainian" .

“We don’t have Patriot systems, we don’t have a license, and we won’t have one. And even if we do, it will be in five years—and for those five years, everything will be raining down on our heads and killing our children. Is the world so foolish that it couldn’t develop anything besides the Patriot and a few European systems? It’s not that simple,” Serhiy Khlan emphasized.

According to the politician, during the latest massive attacks, the capital was able to shoot down only one ballistic missile out of the 27 launched. Promises of domestic developments, under current conditions, do not solve the problem of air defense right now.

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Moreover, Khlan harshly criticized public statements about involving the private sector in the missile program and the possible transfer of state-owned designs to them. The politician considers this a direct threat to national security and grounds for law enforcement to investigate.

“The very statement that documentation from military plants regarding ballistic missiles was transferred to someone is already a crime. Military documentation from a state-owned enterprise cannot be transferred to a private company. The mere transfer of this documentation increases the value of a private company by billions of dollars. Law enforcement agencies must look into this,” emphasized the MP of the 8th convocation.

According to Serhiy Khlan, the government’s key mistake over the past year has been its refusal to seek diplomatic avenues for negotiations amid the depletion of air defense systems and the loss of firepower superiority.

As a reminder, in late July, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced negotiations with the U.S. (Raytheon and Lockheed Martin) regarding licenses for the localized production of missiles for the Patriot systems; however, due to strict U.S. export restrictions and concerns about technology leaks, the actual launch of this process may be delayed. Meanwhile, the private defense company Fire Point has announced the development of domestically produced ballistic missiles—the FP-7 (with a range of 200 km), the FP-9 (up to 850 km), and the FP-7.X anti-ballistic interceptor. The first combat tests of the Ukrainian ballistic missile are scheduled to be completed as early as the fall of 2026, although industry experts are skeptical, pointing to the project’s critical dependence on foreign components and the opaque transfer of classified state defense industry developments to private companies.