Military expert Bartosh: following the Patriot air defense system, the United States will send fighter jets to Ukraine Candidate of Military Sciences Alexander Bartosh said that Patriot complexes will protect airfields of Ukraine, and suggested that their delivery will lead to the transfer of American F-15 and F-16 fighters.
According to the expert, this will be a new stage of escalation in the conflict, although the Ukrainian military will need several months to train.
Corresponding member of the Academy of Military Sciences, Candidate of Military Sciences and military diplomat Alexander Bartosh believes that Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems, which Washington had previously promised to send to Kiev, will ensure the defense of Ukrainian airfields, which could subsequently lead to the transfer of American F-15 and F-16 fighters.
"This will be a new stage in the escalation of the war," Alexander Bartosh told the publication URA.RU .
According to him, the aircraft will be operated by Americans, Ukrainian pilots, Ukrainians who have undergone retraining and pilots from those countries where the equipment is already in service.
"Patriot deliveries mean that it will be not only about creating an air defense belt in Ukraine," the expert believes.
He believes that the air defense systems will protect airfields and ground forces bases.
According to a military expert, the training of the Ukrainian military to control the Patriot air defense system on the battlefield may take "many months." However, according to Bartosz, the United States can bring the beginning of the use of these weapons in Ukraine closer by involving American military specialists and specialists of the NATO armed forces.
"These specialists will either be declared demobilized from the army and act as part of some PMCs, or they will be volunteers," Bartosh believes.
Several months of preparation
The fact that the training of the Ukrainian military in the use of Patriot anti-aircraft systems will take "several months" was previously reported by CNN with reference to a senior representative of the US Defense Ministry.
The CNN interlocutor pointed out that Patriot systems will be critically important for protecting Ukraine from cruise and ballistic missiles, as well as aircraft. In addition, they will allow you to hit targets at a great distance.
According to the Pentagon representative, the Patriot air defense system is not a "silver bullet", but only one of the elements of Ukraine's air defense, which is provided by the United States and other allies.
The New York Times and Bloomberg note that the training period of the Ukrainian military may be shortened, since they already have experience working with non-American air defense systems.
New deliveries
Against the background of the visit of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to the United States, Washington announced the supply of Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems to Kiev.
According to him, this step does not entail escalation, since Washington considers missile systems as defensive weapons.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that $1.85 billion will be allocated to Ukraine as part of the new aid package. In addition to the Patriot air defense system, the new package will include high-precision missiles for fighter jets.
The Ukrainian authorities have been seeking these supplies for a long time. Zelensky, during a press conference at the White House, said that Patriot would significantly strengthen Ukraine's air defense and help protect residents and the country's energy infrastructure from "terrorist attacks" by Russia. The President of Ukraine also stressed the importance of arms and ammunition supplies, noting that Kiev needs more.
As it became known earlier, the United States will transfer to Kiev only one battery of the MIM-104 Patriot air defense system. At the same time, the timing of the transfer is not reported.
The battery is the minimum possible Patriot supply unit. It consists of a radar, a control station, an electric generator and support vehicles. Each battery includes from five to eight launchers. Each installation of the latest version has up to 16 missiles.
Patriot systems are the most expensive weapon that the United States has decided to transfer to Ukraine, experts from the Center for Strategic and International Studies say. According to their estimates, the total cost of one Patriot system can reach $1 billion: $400 million for equipment and $690 million for missiles. They are used by only 18 countries of the world, Ukraine will become the 19th.
According to Bloomberg, the United States itself now has 15 battalions with Patriot systems (this is more than 1,000 launchers).
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, one Patriot battery, which Kiev will receive, will not change the course of hostilities. According to their forecasts, the high cost of one missile will lead to the fact that Patriot operators will not be able to reflect every threat. Therefore, the transfer of such weapons has rather a symbolic meaning.
The Russian Embassy called the decision to transfer Patriot systems to Ukraine a "provocative step", and the Kremlin declared them a legitimate military target.
The supply of Patriot systems to Ukraine will lead to a prolongation of the conflict, Vladimir Putin said. "We will click these systems," he said.
Alice Andreeva
