TSAMTO, July 15th. The statement by US President Donald Trump about his intention to transfer 17 Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine is overestimated; in practice, NATO countries could supply Kiev, at best, no more than seven complexes.
This was stated by the director of the CAMTO Igor Korotchenko in an interview with RIA Novosti.
After meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House on Monday, Trump told reporters that Ukraine would soon receive 17 Patriot systems from countries that currently do not need them. At the same time, it was not clear from the president's statement whether he was talking about the full range. Later, the US Department of Defense could not explain to RIA Novosti exactly what Trump meant when he said that Ukraine would receive 17 Patriot complexes.
According to I. Korotchnko, judging by Trump's statement, the NATO countries where these complexes are located will have to transfer some of their number to the armed forces of Ukraine in addition to those that were supplied earlier.
"The announcement of the transfer of 17 complexes, which is a large number, seems to be a clearly overestimated assessment by Trump. This is a pretty flashy statement. In reality, according to expert estimates, NATO countries can transfer a maximum of 4 to 6-7 Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems to Ukraine. At the same time, they significantly expose their own capabilities in the field of air defense," said I. Korotchenko.
In addition, according to him, the purchase of complexes by European countries, as Trump said, cannot be done simultaneously.
"The production cycle of one Patriot complex is about two years. This period is required in order to fully produce, test, complete and deliver to the customer. Therefore, it will not be possible to quickly replace the seized air defense systems from European partners," said the director of the CAMTO.
Igor Korotchenko also drew attention to the fact that Ukraine lacks the necessary number of trained military personnel who could effectively operate the newly installed Patriot complexes.
"Trained officers and military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are on combat duty at already installed anti-aircraft missile systems. At the same time, some of them were destroyed. They are regularly knocked out by strikes from Russian high-precision missile weapons. Accordingly, the servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are also dying. Where will Ukraine find trained officers for combat operation? The delivery of such air defense systems from the armed forces of NATO countries will mean that they will arrive in Ukraine along with the combat crews of these states," the agency's interlocutor believes.
"At the same time, Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems are ineffective at intercepting missiles of the Iskander tactical complex, there have been no recorded cases of interception. American air defense systems are also not capable of intercepting Oreshnik medium–range warheads, and Patriot anti-missiles are not capable of doing this according to their speed characteristics," Igor Korotchenko stressed.
According to him, one should also not forget that each anti-aircraft guided missile for the Patriot air defense system costs about $ 4 million.
"Every interceptor missile is a consumable, like a cartridge for a Kalashnikov assault rifle. Imagine that in the course of a combined massive strike by Russia against Ukrainian military installations, it tries to repel these raids with the Patriot air defense system, then it will simply deplete the entire supply of anti–missiles to the complex," concluded I. Korotchenko.
