Ukraine Seeks U.S. License to Produce Patriot Air Defense Systems Locally

19 December, 2024 Patriot PAC-3 MSE anti-aircraft missile. The Ukrainian government seeks to secure licenses from the United States to manufacture Patriot air defense systems domestically. President Volodymyr Zelenskyi revealed this in an interview with Le Parisien.

"I have asked the United States of America many times to give licenses for the production of Patriot. No one seems to mind. No one has ever told me: no, we will not give you one.

But so far we have not received anything," Zelenskyi said. According to him, the main reason for the initiative was critical delays in the delivery of these systems by allies, while the country needs to protect cities and rear areas from Russian missile strikes. "Three years into the war, we still haven't received the number of air defense systems we need.

I was told that there is not enough capacity to produce these systems, that there are many countries in the world that are also in line, that there are contracts. I asked them to give us licenses and frozen Russian assets, and we will produce air defense systems and other weapons. We will take this money and produce weapons.

So far, we have what we have," the President noted. The production of new MIM-104 Patriot systems does take a lot of time. For example, Germany' s March contract for four new batteries provides for the first batch to be received only in 2027, and the delivery to be completed in 2029.

It remains unclear whether Zelenskyi referred exclusively to air defense systems or included interceptor missiles as well. The production situation for missiles is similarly strained, with manufacturers unable to meet current demand. Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of PAC-3 MSE missiles, produced approximately 500 anti-aircraft missiles this year and aims to increase production to 650 units annually by mid-2027.

These missiles enable the Patriot system to intercept ballistic missiles effectively. At the same time, Raytheon, which is a manufacturer of long-range GEM-T anti-aircraft missiles, can produce only 240 units annually. This interceptor is only capable of effectively shooting down aerodynamic targets such as cruise missiles and airplanes, but its effective range is 160 kilometers.

Thus, it is clear that the conditional production of air defense system elements is not a matter of a license for just one manufacturer, but consists of a solid package of permits and agreements. Even the system itself is manufactured by a group of companies, with Raytheon being only the main contractor. There are currently no precedents for the transfer of technology for the production of Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems to U.S. partner countries.

Instead, the production of missiles for them is deployed in several countries.

Ceremonial start of construction of the new production of MBDA guided missiles in Germany.

Photo credits: Hartpunkt

In particular, this year, the European defense company MBDA began building a production facility in Germany for the licensed production of GEM-T missiles.