Two more air defense systems have arrived to Ukraine for shooting down missiles
3 February, 2024 Illustrative photo of a Patriot missile launch. Photo credits: fakty.com.ua Ukraine received two more air defense systems capable of shooting down ballistic and cruise missiles.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that these systems could "shoot down anything". Volodymyr Zelensky pointedly said he could give no details of the newly arrived air defense systems. "All the details, of course, should not be said in public.
But these are systems that can shoot down anything. We will be protecting the regions. And while the systems are not yet sufficient for the complete defense of Ukraine, we are working towards that goal every day," the President said.
He added that the Ukrainian government is thinking about international work in the coming weeks and announced new aid packages for Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelensky at the positions of Special Operations Forces near Bakhmut. July 29, 2023. Photo credits: Office of the President of UkraineIt is possible that Ukraine has received additional US Patriot air defense systems that could "shoot down anything".
In June last year, it was reported that Raytheon Technologies planned to produce five more battalions of Patriot air defense systems for Ukraine by the end of 2024. Patriot air defense systems and their components arrived in Ukraine from the United States, Germany and the Netherlands. Ukraine currently has at its disposal PAC-2 missiles, which use a blast fragmentation warhead for hitting an aerial target, and PAC-3 missiles, which destroy a missile or an aircraft at high speed by a direct kinetic strike.
Patriot air defense system of the German armed forces.Photo credits: Ministry of Defense of the Federal Republic of Germany
According to the Pentagon officials, Patriot systems have strengthened Ukraine's air defense, because they made it possible to shoot down, in particular, ballistic missiles and enemy aircraft aimed at both troops and civilian objects. The IRIS-T air defense systems also proved to be effective in Ukraine. In 2023, three IRIS-Ts were deployed in Ukraine, and in 2024 their number is to be increased to eight.
The IRIS-T SAM.Photo credits: Latvijas armija
At the same time, the production of missiles for IRIS-T tripled last year, and the company plans to produce about 400-500 missiles a year starting in 2024.