Another system remains in Poland
Two new Patriot launchers go to Kiev
08/10/2023, 1:25 p.m
Ukraine has major weaknesses, especially in terms of air defense, and is grateful for any help. She is now from Germany. Two launch pads for Patriot defense systems are now available to Kiev. A decision is now also being made for a system in Poland.
Germany has delivered two more launch pads for the Patriot air defense system to Ukraine. As the federal government announced in its weekly updated list of arms deliveries to Kiev, the two launch devices were handed over to Ukraine. The federal government had promised this in July at the NATO summit in Lithuania as part of another armaments package worth 700 million euros.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Germany and Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday for the continued Patriot delivery. The help from Germany will “save thousands of lives of our people,” he wrote on Twitter, which has since been renamed “X”. Both sides continued to work to “strengthen Ukraine and protect it from Russian terror.”
Germany had delivered the Patriot air defense system in January. The weapons system, manufactured by the US company Raytheon, is used to combat larger airborne targets such as aircraft, drones, missiles and cruise missiles. A Patriot battery consists of a radar system and several anti-missile launchers. She can keep an eye on up to 50 incoming targets and fight five objects at the same time. According to the Bundeswehr, the range is around 68 kilometers.
According to the federal government, the military goods delivered since last week also include other multi-purpose tracked vehicles, heavy-duty articulated lorries, trucks, border guard vehicles and reconnaissance drones. There are also a hundred machine guns, over 6,000 rounds of smoke ammunition, more than a thousand binoculars, 20,000 shooting glasses and 40,000 first aid kits.
Poland says yes to longer Patriot deployment
It was also announced that German Patriot systems will remain stationed in Poland until the end of the year. A corresponding offer from the federal government has been accepted, Poland’s Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak told Polish public broadcaster. By the end of the year, Poland will be ready to integrate its own Patriot systems into its air defense.
The three German Patriot squadrons have been deployed in Zamosc in south-eastern Poland since January to protect the country’s airspace. The city is not far from the border with Ukraine. The Patriot systems were originally supposed to be stationed there for a maximum of six months. At a meeting with Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius in early July, Blaszczak had already expressed the hope that the stationing would be extended.