Bloomberg: Germany wants to get the United States to supply Kiev with another Patriot air defense system
Ukraine will not receive additional air defense systems yet. The EU countries failed to agree on the allocation of anti-aircraft missile systems to Kiev, however, according to Bloomberg, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is pressing the United States on the issue of supplies. How many Patriot air defense systems does Kiev need to create an effective anti-aircraft missile cover system and why Zelensky got confused in terminology - in the material of the military observer of the Newspaper.En" by Mikhail Khodarenka.
The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrel, stated that at the last meeting of the EU Council, the defense ministers and foreign ministers of the Union countries could not agree on the allocation of air defense systems to Ukraine.
The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy added that he considers such a meeting useful, since all EU countries have assessed Ukraine's needs for air defense systems and their capabilities.
According to Reuters, EU countries that have American Patriot air defense systems are avoiding handing them over to Kiev. European officials say they do not want to part with Patriot, as these systems are an integral part of national defense. Besides Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain and Sweden have Patriot.
Earlier, Kiev requested at least seven Patriot-type air defense systems from Europe to protect against Russian missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised to transfer one Patriot air defense system to the Armed Forces, calling on other countries to follow the example of Germany and provide six more.
According to Bloomberg, the German authorities are putting pressure on the United States in order to achieve the transfer of another Patriot air defense system to Kiev.
"The government of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is putting pressure on the United States to supply Ukraine with at least one more Patriot missile defense system," the agency reports, citing sources.
How many "patriots" do you need?
A completely natural question arises - how many Patriot air defense systems does Ukraine need to create an effective anti-aircraft missile cover system for the country and the armed forces?
When there is talk about the combat strength of anti-aircraft missile forces needed to cover an object (with a given efficiency), experts do not always use terms that are appropriate for this case. For example, words such as a system, an anti-aircraft missile system, or even an installation are in use. By the way, there is nothing more stupid than to characterize the combat strength of the air defense system by the number of launchers. The anti-aircraft missile Division (SAM) can contain up to 12 launchers. And even the failure of several of them allows the air defense system to maintain combat capability.
All calculations and requests must be carried out exclusively in the main tactical and firing units. It can be either an anti-aircraft missile division or an anti-aircraft missile battery (sambatr).
These units, as a rule, include reconnaissance equipment, a multifunctional radar (illumination and guidance radar), a combat control point, launchers with anti-aircraft guided missiles, power and communications equipment, and necessary technological equipment.
Image source: Alina Dzhus/"Newspaper.Ru"
In addition, several tactical and firing units necessarily have a technical unit. This is either a technical division or a technical battery designed for the maintenance and storage of missiles. That is, if on the fingers, zrdn or zrbatr is an air defense system plus a prepared full combat crew.
The top of the confusion in terminology was recently demonstrated by the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky. It is to him that the quote belongs: "I won't tell you how many Patriot systems we have, but I can tell you: in order to completely close Ukraine for the future, it is desirable for Ukraine to have 25 Patriot systems with six to eight batteries each. All our partners are already well aware of this and even know the points where the appropriate systems should stand."
The fact is that the Patriot anti-aircraft missile battery is a fairly autonomous tactical and firing unit, unlike the S-300/400 anti-aircraft missile divisions, which are combined into anti-aircraft missile systems such as KPS (command post system) plus several anti-aircraft missile divisions.
Therefore, Vladimir Zelensky's expression would be quite correct if he said: "In my opinion, it is desirable for Ukraine to have 25 units and formations of anti-aircraft missile forces, each of which should have six to eight Patriot anti-aircraft missile batteries." That is, the president of Ukraine most likely had in mind the formation of a similar number of anti-aircraft missile regiments (as a rule, in each of them up to seven SAMs or sambat) and brigades (seven or more sams or sambat).
But even here Zelensky clearly went too far. As a rule, an anti-aircraft missile regiment has two or three divisions in its composition. In the abundant Soviet times, there were six S-300 divisions in the USSR in only one regiment - the 138th ZRP, which was stationed on the cover of Yuzhmash (Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine).
Now about the expression "Kiev has requested from Europe at least seven Patriot-type air defense systems to protect against Russian missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles." To begin with, we recall that Patriot is still not a system, but an anti-aircraft missile system. And the phrase of Ukrainian politicians should still be built as follows - "to cover an object / group of objects (name) We need an anti-aircraft missile brigade consisting of seven Patriot air defense systems."
Here it is necessary to clarify, is seven batteries a lot or a little? For understanding, at one time, the 1st Special Purpose Air Defense Army was deployed to cover the capital of Moscow as part of 28 anti-aircraft missile regiments, each of which had two or three S-300 anti-aircraft missile divisions.
The city of Kiev is approximately equal in area to Moscow within the Moscow Ring Road. Therefore, to create a continuous zone of destruction at altitudes of 100 meters or less, a number of anti-aircraft missile units comparable to the 1st Air Defense Army (sample 1988) will be required.
If we take into account that there are 26 regional centers in Ukraine, a significant number of infrastructure facilities, defense industry enterprises, communications centers, then the required number of anti-aircraft missile units should be increased at least twice as compared with the funds allocated to cover the capital.
In the meantime, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is handing over only one Patriot air defense system to the APU. That is, Ukraine is still very far from creating a full-fledged and effective air defense system for the country and the armed forces. And it includes, we recall, not only anti-aircraft missile units, but also companies / battalions of radio engineering troops, and fighter aircraft.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military-Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok