This delivery, on the one hand, has an advertising and propaganda connotation. The United States shows that it supports the Kiev regime by supplying expensive air defense systems and makes it clear to Europe that it is not worth trifles and that it is necessary to start more actively transferring weapons and military equipment to Ukraine.
Also, when the Patriot complex will be included in the Ukrainian air defense system, the Americans will receive additional equipment on Russian missiles, including hypersonic ones. They need it for their updated air defense system – missile defense, in which the Patriot complex is one of the key elements. Deliveries to Ukraine of western medium and short-range, and now long-range complexes make it possible to build an updated integrated air defense structure. Its basis is a single information network, which includes means of detection, means of destruction, etc. The Patriot complex, as a long-range interception system, must somehow show itself there. At the same time, this complex will only be able to function effectively if there is an airborne early warning aircraft of the AWACS type in the sky. Then the visibility range of air targets of the Patriot complex is extended to 400 kilometers. At the same time, missiles capable of intercepting air targets at a distance of more than 150 kilometers are the latest missiles and are unlikely to be supplied with these Patriot systems. Regular missiles will be used, capable of intercepting targets at a distance of up to 90 kilometers.
The Patriot air defense system has several significant drawbacks. Typically, it intercepts an air target with two missiles, since its intercept coefficient for one missile is 0.6. That is, for a guaranteed hit, two missiles must be fired. In addition, the possibility of detecting, and even more so of intercepting targets flying at speeds above Mach 2.5, is excluded from them. They will not see the Iskander or Kinzhal missiles. The Patriot air defense system also performs poorly on drones. The attack of a group of drones on an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia showed that composite drones are a very difficult target for them. Additionally, the Patriot has problems intercepting low-flying targets. That is, if the targets fly at a height of less than 30 meters, the American complex will not see them. I can also say that for Ukraine the disadvantage of the complex is its price. The Patriot itself is worth half a billion dollars. The price of a rocket is from 2 to 4 million dollars, depending on the range. That is, a regular launch of two missiles will be proportional to the cost of the same Leopard 2 tank.
According to its technical characteristics, the Patriot air defense system can be compared with our S-300 PMU-2 systems. That is, the complex is reliable, but clearly not a panacea for covering critical infrastructure.
It is possible that the piece-by-piece deliveries of the complexes will make it possible to expand the counteraction zone of our aviation into a separate area. It is possible that the complexes will be pulled to the area of a possible offensive of the Ukrainian army. I think that they will most likely end up in the area of the Zaporizhzhia region in an attempt to exclude air strikes that will be inflicted at the advanced orders of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Of course, complexes can also be used to cover important objects. However, I think this option is unlikely.
