On Wednesday, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said his country had received American Patriot anti-aircraft missile (SAM) systems it had long requested from its allies and which would help protect Ukraine from strikes. Russian airlines.
“Today our beautiful Ukrainian skies become safer, as Patriot air defense systems have arrived in Ukraine,” wrote Reznikov on Twitter .
He also noted that Ukrainian military air defense units have mastered Patriot systems and that Ukraine’s partners have kept their word.
Reznikov expressed his gratitude to the head of the German Defense Department, Boris Pistorius, and to the Minister of Defense of the Netherlands, Kais Ollongren.
The day before, the German government announced that it had transferred the Patriot system and ammunition to Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Oleksandr Pavlyuk also confirmed the delivery of the Patriot air defense system to Ukraine on Telegram on Wednesday, saying that “these air defense systems will contribute to protection against missiles cruise ships and Russian drones”.
Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ignat said late Tuesday that the delivery of the Patriot air defense systems would be a landmark event, allowing the Ukrainians to hit Russian targets from a greater distance.
Ukrainian officials have previously said the arrival of the Patriot systems, which Washington agreed to send last October, would be a major boost and an important step in the war against a full-scale Russian invasion.
At the end of March, the Pentagon announced that the first group of 65 Ukrainian military personnel had completed training on Patriot systems in the United States and had returned to Europe.
Previously, the media, citing Pentagon officials, had announced that two Patriot systems – one American and the other German-Dutch – would be deployed in Ukraine in the coming weeks.
In early April, the United States announced a new $2.6 billion military aid package for Ukraine, which included, among other things, additional ammunition for Patriot systems, rocket and artillery systems high mobility HIMARS and 155mm and 105mm artillery shells.
For the first time, Patriot air defense systems were deployed in the United States in the 1980s. The name of the PATRIOT system is an abbreviation of Phased Array Tracking Radar for Intercept on Target (PATRIOT, a multifunctional radar station for controlling a anti-aircraft missile system). The all-theater surface-to-air missile defense system, developed by the American company Raytheon Technologies, is considered one of the most advanced air defense systems in the world.
It is a mobile system that usually includes a powerful radar, control station, generator, launch stations and other support vehicles.
The system has different capabilities, depending on the type of interceptor missile used.
The PAC-2 interceptor is equipped with an explosive fragmentation warhead and the improved PAC-3 missile uses more advanced direct strike technology.
According to data disclosed in 2015 by NATO, the radar range of the system is more than 150 km.
To date, Raytheon has produced more than 240 Patriot air defense systems used in 18 countries.
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