The Netherlands is reportedly contemplating offering considered one of its MIM-104 Patriot floor to air missile batteries to Ukraine, following a call by america in December to offer the identical system by mid 2023. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed on January 18 that the choice to produce the system had already been made, stating: “Essential information got here from Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte right now. Yet another Patriot battery can be offered to Ukraine.” The president elaborated relating to the supply’s implications: “Subsequently, we’re already having three assured batteries at our disposal. However that is only the start. We’re engaged on new options to reinforce our air defences.” Germany is reportedly additionally contemplating offering Patriots to Ukraine, and is already set to deploy its batteries to protect the airspace of neighbouring Poland inside days. Ukraine’s air defence community inherited from the Soviet Union was previously thought of probably the most succesful in Europe, and was constructed across the extremely cellular S-300 and BuK programs of which it was the most important operator aside from Russia itself. This community was critically depleted by the top of the yr, nonetheless, albeit primarily via expenditure of missiles relatively than destruction because of Russia’s air defence suppression efforts falling wanting expectations.
Regardless of the pressing necessity of bolstering Ukraine’s air defences, the suitability of the Patriot system for the nation’s defence wants has repeatedly been known as to query by distinguished consultants in america. The U.S. Congressional Analysis Service (CRS) advisory physique, for one, warned that Ukrainian forces would solely be able to function Patriots by early 2024 on the earliest, and that the “battery and related interceptors being despatched to Ukraine might be taken from current military models and stockpiles” within the U.S. Navy might compromise American defences elsewhere. It added that the “huge price ticket” of the Patriot system had been additionally highlighted within the report, stating that “a newly produced Patriot battery prices about $1.1 billion, together with about $400 million for the system and about $690 million for the missiles,” with an “estimated to price about $4 million per missile,” would end in “restrictions… on what sorts of hostile programs might be engaged by” Ukrainian-operated Patriots.
The small variety of Patriots set to be deployed, and the restricted capabilities of of complementary shorter ranged programs such because the early Chilly Struggle period MIM-23 Hawks being equipped, has additionally raised questions relating to their survivability significantly as Russian forces have invested in enhancing air defence suppression capabilities and are more likely to prioritise neutralising any Patriots deployed. The destruction of Patriot programs, which have decrease mobility than the S-300s and BuKs presently in service, might go a great distance in the direction of depleting Ukrainian morale and bolstering that of the Russian Navy itself. Whereas the programs are too scarce and too pricey to have the ability to change even a fraction of the S-300 community, whether or not they are often delivered earlier than the destruction of Ukraine’s important infrastructure forces the abandonment of main cities additionally stays in query. Deliveries however accompany very giant portions of armaments being equipped by NATO members starting from primary battle tanks to satellite tv for pc guided artillery rounds, with the sheer weight of the mixed new firepower being deployed probably compensating for the restricted impact that Patriot programs alone might have.
