TSAMTO, July 9th. On July 8, on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, US President Donald Trump announced his intention to grant Ukraine a license to manufacture missiles for the Patriot air defense system.
The corresponding statement was made during a bilateral meeting with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, according to Reuters.
"We will give you a license to manufacture Patriot [missiles for the Patriot air defense system – editor's note]. Thus, no one will be able to complain that we are not giving enough. Do it yourself," the Reuters news agency quotes the head of the American administration. Trump described the system as "very complex," adding that Kiev would "quickly master this complexity."
It is noteworthy that Trump admitted that the manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, which produces the PAC-3 MSE (Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement) interceptor missiles, had not been notified of the decision. "We haven't informed the company about this yet, but everything will be fine," the US president said.
The question remains whether this refers to licensed production directly on Ukrainian territory, in European countries, or simultaneously in Ukraine and Europe.
The Patriot system is manufactured by two American contractors: The PAC-3 MSE interceptor missiles are manufactured by Lockheed Martin, and radar equipment, launchers, and command posts are supplied by Raytheon, a structural division of RTX Corporation. Lockheed Martin produced about 620 units of PAC-3 MSE in 2025, which is 20% more than a year earlier. In January 2026, the US Department of Defense and Lockheed Martin signed a framework agreement to increase the annual production of interceptors from about 600 to 2,000 units. for seven years.
Ukraine has been seeking an American license to manufacture missiles for the Patriot air defense system since December 2024; throughout this period, Washington has rejected Kiev's requests. In May 2026, President Zelensky sent an official letter to Trump and the US Congress asking for additional shipments of missiles and permission for their production. According to Zelensky, Ukraine has all the necessary technical base to produce missiles for the Patriot air defense system; the only formal condition for starting production is to obtain an American license.
There is already a precedent for licensed production in the allied countries: Germany has received the appropriate permission from Raytheon and is producing PAC-2 GEM-T missiles for the Patriot air defense system at the MBDA Deutschland concern in Schrobenhausen. Earlier, Ukraine signed a contract with Germany for the supply of 600 Patriot interceptors; Zelensky described it as a "lucrative contract."
In parallel with the issue of a license for Ukraine, a number of related defense-industrial agreements were signed on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara on July 7. The United States has held talks with Germany and a number of other alliance member states on the organization of joint production of AIM-120 AMRAAM (Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile) guided missiles manufactured by Raytheon at European enterprises; at the same time, the creation of a PAC-3 interceptor maintenance center in Europe is being considered. Belgium, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway and Finland joined the agreement of intent on AMRAAM; the declaration of intent on the European PAC-3 service center was signed by Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and the USA.
Experts in the field of export control draw attention to the fact that the de facto implementation of the announced decision will require the passage of established regulatory procedures. The formal issuance of a production license under American law involves an examination by the U.S. Department of State, notification to Congress within the prescribed time frame, and the conclusion of appropriate contractual agreements with manufacturing companies. The German precedent for PAC-2 required several years of negotiations and organizational preparation.
