On Tuesday, December 13, it became known that the administration of US President Joe Biden is preparing to transfer Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems to Ukraine. This was reported to CNN by three officials in Washington. According to them, a decision could be made as early as this week.
“The Pentagon plan must be approved by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin before it is sent to President Joe Biden for signature. Three officials confirmed that approval is pending.” CNN reports.
Patriot will be the most powerful and advanced anti-missile weapon Ukraine has received from its Western allies. These installations use rockets of various modifications. There are also those that are capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 80 km and an altitude of up to 20 km. The system is capable of destroying both ballistic and cruise missiles of the enemy, as well as some types of aircraft. The Patriot is capable of tracking up to 125 targets simultaneously.
Ukraine has long been asking the West to give it such an effective and powerful air defense system. However, so far in our country refused. The latest example is Germany’s decision to provide three Patriot systems to Poland. Warsaw offered to place them in the western regions of Ukraine, rightly believing that they were more needed there. However, Berlin refused and the Patriot would be sent to Poland.
Germany has made it clear that it does not want to be the first country to supply Patriot to Ukraine. Berlin wanted the decision to be made at the NATO level. But Brussels stressed that the German government itself must decide on this issue.
How many systems Ukraine can get from the US, CNN does not know. It is known that in the case of a positive decision, the Patriot battery will be shipped as soon as possible. The training of Ukrainian military specialists will be held at an American military base in Germany. It is noted that Patriot serves more people compared to other air defense systems. One battery usually consists of a radar, a mobile command post, support equipment and eight launchers of four missiles each.
Source: Fakty
