Ukrainian military likely to master Patriot missile defense system in the USA

The Pentagon is considering training the Ukrainian servicemen to operate the Patriot missile defense system at a military base in the United States, rather than in Europe.

Politico writes about this with reference to its own sources.

Since the full-scale invasion of Russia in February, the Ukrainian servicemen have completed training on a host of different weapons systems in eastern Europe, Germany and the United Kingdom.

But until this point, none of the training has been done in the United States.

However, as the American publication emphasizes, the final decision on the training of the Armed Forces in the United States has not yet been made.

The news that the Pentagon is considering conducting the training stateside comes a day after the Biden administration announced that it would provide one Patriot battery to Ukraine to help defend against Russian attacks and airstrikes.

Besides, as CNN reports, according to a senior Pentagon official, the United States will soon begin training Ukrainian personnel on how to operate and maintain the Patriot missile system.

Though the Pentagon would not specify exactly when the training would begin or how long it would take to master the air defense system, a senior defense official said it would start “very soon” and would take “several months.”

According to the Pentagon, the Patriot system costs between $450 and $550 million, depending on the configuration of the platform. Each missile costs approximately $4 million.

The Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Oleksii Reznikov, following the results of a telephone conversation with the head of the U.S. Department of Defense, Lloyd Austin, said that the Ukrainian military would quickly learn to operate with the Patriot systems.

“Ukrainian patriot soldiers will quickly master these systems (Patriot — Ed.). They repeatedly proved their skill,” he wrote on Twitter.

As previously reported, on December 21, the United States announced another military aid package for Ukraine. In particular, it included one battery of the one Patriot air defense battery and munitions.