WASHINGTON, USA (AFP) — US President Joe Biden has pledged to help Ukraine get air defense systems with greater range than the man-portable Stinger missiles already on the ground, but to find the powerful anti-missile batteries that the Ukrainian military badly needs. turns out to be easier said than done.
The US president, who wants to support Ukraine militarily without coming into direct conflict with Russia, is seeking better protection from Russian artillery that is shelling its cities.
The ideal armament for this would be Patriot-type mobile anti-aircraft batteries, the effectiveness of which has been clearly demonstrated in recent years in Iraq and the Persian Gulf.
It is still unclear whether the Patriot system will be able to provide effective protection against the latest missiles from the Russian arsenal.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday that it had used its Kinzhal hypersonic missiles for the first time a day earlier to destroy an underground weapons depot in western Ukraine.
Get The Times of Israel Daily by Email and Don’t Miss Our Top Stories
By registering, you agree to the terms
The American-made Patriot, loaded onto trucks, has a radar capable of automatically detecting and intercepting an aircraft, drone, or missile within a radius of more than 60 miles (100 kilometers). It has an observation post with three soldiers and a battery of interceptor missiles.
Pictured: American soldiers near a Patriot missile battery at Al Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, May 5, 2021. (Staff Sergeant Jao’Torey Johnson/USAF via AP)
But hypersonic missiles fly much faster than traditional cruise missiles.
Moreover, the Ukrainian army is currently not trained to handle the sophisticated American Patriot system.
On the other hand, they know how to handle the S-300 anti-aircraft system, the Russian competitor of the first generation of the American Patriot, whose range is more limited, but which will be enough to protect Kharkov or Kyiv, two cities located near the Russian border, from where it is launched most of the missiles that fire at them.
These S-300s may come from countries in the former Soviet bloc that are still deploying them, such as Slovakia and Bulgaria, where US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visited in recent days.
But these countries still depend on the S-300s for their own security and require replacements – in other words, Patriots – before handing them over to Ukraine.
“We are ready to do it as soon as we have a suitable replacement,” Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad told reporters Thursday during a meeting with Austin in Bratislava.
‘Not enough’
On Friday, the Netherlands said it would deploy a Patriot battery at the Sliac military base in central Slovakia, while Germany confirmed it would send two more batteries to the country, which could facilitate the transfer of the only Slovak S-300 battery to Ukraine.
But the German and Dutch Patriots will not arrive in Slovakia immediately – the Netherlands expects the delivery to be no earlier than April 15, and the time for the Ukrainian army is running out.
While several countries may be ready to supply Kiev with spare missiles for the S-300, Ukraine needs many ready-made systems, including radars and surveillance stations.
Russian anti-aircraft missile systems S-300 at the military parade in honor of the 71st anniversary of the Victory on Red Square in Moscow, Russia, May 9, 2016. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
“One S-300 is better than none,” said Brent Eastwood, defense editor of a 1945 foreign policy webzine. But “still not enough.”
Ukraine had about 100 S-300 batteries before Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion last month, and the Russian army claims to have destroyed about 40 batteries early in the war on Feb. 24, Eastwood, a former U.S. soldier, recently wrote.
The country is huge and just protecting the city requires a lot, he told AFP.
“If I were a military planner for Ukraine, I would like four S-300 batteries for each quadrant of Kyiv. This deployment will help me sleep better at night,” he said.
Another NATO country, Greece, has S-300s, but they too will need to be offered replacements. However, even if the Pentagon, whose Patriot stocks are relatively limited, decides to provide their Patriots to these countries, it will take them several weeks to reach their destination.
Washington is trying to convince allies in other regions to provide theirs, but again, it’s not easy.
US Chief of Staff General Mark Milley may have asked Japan for help on Thursday.
Police officers guard a site where an explosion damaged residential buildings in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
He called his Japanese counterpart to discuss “the current security situation in the Pacific and the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine,” according to a Pentagon account of their conversation released Friday.
The Gulf states have numerous anti-aircraft batteries to defend against Iranian missiles, but they seem to be in no hurry to come to the aid of Ukraine.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which are among the world’s largest oil exporters and have strong ties to both the West and Moscow, have so far avoided taking a stand against Russia.
You are a devoted reader
That’s why we launched the Times of Israel ten years ago to provide astute readers like you with must-read articles about Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we have not set up a paywall. But because the journalism we do comes at a cost, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to support our work by joining us. Israeli Community Times.
For just $6 a month, you can support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel. AD FREEas well as access exclusive content available only to members of the Times of Israel community.
Thanks,
David Horowitz, editor-in-chief of The Times of Israel
Join our community Join our community Already a member? Sign in to not see this