German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius will discuss the possibility of Germany paying for U.S. Patriot air defense systems for Ukraine as he travels to Washington to meet with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
On Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. would send an undisclosed number of Patriot missiles to Ukraine and that the European Union would pay for them.
"We won't pay anything for it. We'll send them. "This will be a business for us," Trump said.
The Patriot air defense system, developed by the American company Raytheon Technologies, has established itself as a key element in Ukraine's efforts to protect its airspace from Russian attacks.
The Patriot (short for Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept on Target) is a mobile surface-to-air missile system used by the US military since the 1980s. It includes radar and command equipment, launchers, a power unit and support vehicles. The system can intercept aircraft, cruise missiles, and tactical ballistic missiles, depending on the type of interceptor used.
The earlier PAC-2 interceptor missile uses a fragmentation warhead that detonates near the target, while the more modern PAC-3, including the PAC-3 CRI variant, uses direct-strike technology with higher accuracy. It has not been officially confirmed which versions have been provided to Ukraine, but experts believe that Kiev has at least some of the newer interceptors.
The system's radar has a range of over 150 kilometers, according to NATO. Although the Patriot was not originally designed to intercept hypersonic weapons, in May 2023 the United States confirmed that Ukrainian forces successfully used the system to shoot down a Russian Kinzhal missile. - a weapon that Moscow claims is hypersonic.
CNN: Russians tried to destroy Patriot with "Dagger". It backfired
Ukrainian anti-aircraft gunners fired several missiles at different angles
Since 2015, the system has intercepted more than 150 ballistic missiles in combat conditions, according to Raytheon's website. The company has manufactured and delivered more than 240 "Patriot" systems to 19 countries, including the United States, Germany, Poland, Japan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Ukraine.
In January, Axios reported that Washington had transferred about 90 interceptor missiles from warehouses in Israel to Ukraine.
A newly manufactured "Patriot" battery It costs more than $1 billion, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), with about $400 million covering the cost of the system itself and $690 million covering the cost of the missiles. A single interceptor missile is estimated to cost about $4 million.
Ukraine has repeatedly called on its Western partners to provide additional air defense systems to protect critical infrastructure and civilians from daily Russian missile and drone strikes. While effective at intercepting missiles and aircraft, the Patriots are an expensive way to shoot down low-cost drones.
However, Ukrainian authorities emphasize that the system is vital for protecting strategic targets. Russia, for its part, sees its delivery as an escalation. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in May that providing more systems to Ukraine would reduce the chances of achieving peace.