Ukraine has pressured the United States to make the system available.
US Department of Defense Pentagon is finalizing a plan to send Patriot missile batteries to Ukraine, US media reports CNN (switch to another service) and The New York Times (you are moving to another service).
President Joe Biden the administration may announce it as early as this week, US officials tell the media. The plan was made after Russia began to attack important infrastructure targets in Ukraine with missiles.
Ukrainian air defense has played a key role during the Russian invasion. After Russia moved after the unfortunate land battles to fire at Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with missiles and suicide drones, Ukraine has pressured the United States and other countries to donate the Patriot system to it.
Patriot in combat use for the first time in 1991
The Patriot is an anti-aircraft missile system introduced in 1982. The United States describes it as its most advanced anti-aircraft system. It consists of several different parts, such as a radar, monitoring station, power station and eight launchers.
In battle, the battery can be operated by three people. For the first time, the Patriot system was used in combat in 1991 during Operation Desert Storm, when the international coalition drove the Iraqi forces that had occupied Kuwait out of the country.
After Russia attacked Ukraine at the end of February, Ukraine’s air defense consisted mainly of Soviet-era aircraft and missile systems, with which Ukraine managed to prevent Russian air dominance.
Since then, Ukraine has received more combat equipment. The US provided NASAMS and Germany the IRIS-T system. In addition, Russian-made S-300 missiles as well as the Western HAWK system and shoulder-fired Stinger missiles have been donated to Ukraine.
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