Kyiv receives Patriot Missiles from US

Subject: International Relations

Section: Msc

Concept :

American-made Patriot missiles have arrived in Ukraine, the country’s defense minister said Wednesday, providing Kyiv with a long-sought new shield against the Russian airstrikes that have devastated cities and civilian infrastructure.

About Patriot system:

The Patriot is one of the most sought-after defence systems and has been deployed in 18 countries, including the U.S.
The Patriot is a surface-to-air guided missile system that was first deployed in the 1980s.
History:
- Initially developed as a system to intercept high-flying aircraft by Raytheon Technologies, the Patriot was modified in the 1980s to focus on other threats such as ballistic missiles.
- The programme’s roots can be traced back to the 1960s when the Pentagon was looking to replace the HAWK and Nike-Hercules air defence systems.
Currently, Patriot batteries can defend against ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, drones, jets and “other threats”, but it doesn’t offer protection against low-flying small drones.
A mobile Patriot system includes a control centre, a radar station to detect threats, missile launchers to take out those threats and other support vehicles.
It can launch different types of interceptor missiles: The older PAC-1 and PAC-2 interceptors used a blast-fragmentation warhead, while the newer PAC-3 missile has a more advanced hit-to-kill technology.
The Patriot system’s radar has a range of over 150 km and it can track over 50 potential targets at the same time.