US to send Patriot Missiles to Ukraine

Subject :Science and Technology

The U.S. will send $1.8 billion in military aid to Ukraine in a massive package that will for the first time include a Patriot missile battery and precision-guided bombs for their fighter jets, U.S. officials said.

Patriot missile

The Patriot is a surface-to-air guided missile system that was first deployed in the 1980s and can target aircraft, cruise missiles and shorter-range ballistic missiles.
Each Patriot battery consists of a truck-mounted launching system with eight launchers that can hold up to four missile interceptors each, a ground radar, a control station and a generator.
Its operational range is around 70 kilometer and the US has 16 Patriot battalions currently.
A 2018 International Institute for Strategic Studies report found those battalions operate 50 batteries, which have more than 1,200 missile interceptors.
The S. batteries are regularly deployed around the world.
The Patriot system is one of the most widely operated and reliable and proven air missile defense systems oand the theater ballistic missile defense capability could help defend Ukraineagainst Iranian-supplied ballistic missiles.

Countries with Patriot missiles

Patriots also are operated or being purchased by the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Taiwan, Greece, Spain, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Romania, Sweden, Poland and Bahrain.

Patriot Missile – Wars

These missiles were used by the US military in Persian Gulf War, Iraq war, 2014 Israel – Gaza conflict, Syrian civil war, Yemen civil war, Saudi Arabian led intervention in Yemen, Saudi Arabian – Yemeni border conflict.