Ukraine may receive five more Patriot systems by end of 2024
Ukraine can get five more Patriot systems by end of 2024
Raytheon Technologies Corporation plans to produce five more Patriot air defense system batteries for Ukraine by the end of 2024, as The Wall Street Journal reports.
According to the CEO of Raytheon Technologies, Gregory J. Hayes, the company aims to increase production to 12 Patriot systems annually. He said that the company was impressed by the effectiveness of the complex in Russia-Ukraine war, as it destroyed nearly 90% of Russian targets in conjunction with other air defense systems.
Futhermore, Ukraine has fine-tuned the Patriot software so that the system can track and destroy hypersonic missiles flying twice as fast.
Currently, Ukraine possesses two Patriot air defense systems. One was transferred by the United States, and the other one was provided by Germany in cooperation with the Netherlands.Ukraine and the Netherlands are currently pressuring Spain to transfer a Patriot missile defense battery.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine needs 50 Patriot batteries for effective defense against Russian air attacks.
The Patriot air defense system has already shown successful results in Ukraine. On May 4th, the system shot down a Russian hypersonic missile, the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal, over Kyiv for the first time.
