Ukrainian Defense Industry Expert: U.S. Attempts to Undermine Development of European Version of "Patriot" System

On August 8, Anatoliy Hrapchynskyi, a reserve officer in the Ukrainian Air Force and director of development at a defense company, said in an interview with "Ukrainian Radio" that the United States is attempting to disrupt the development of a European version of the "Patriot" system; the U.S. is actively offering multiple European countries the opportunity to produce certain components of the "Patriot" missile to reduce their motivation to develop alternatives to the American system; it remains unclear how much "Patriot" missile manufacturing capacity the U.S. plans to transfer to Ukraine.

"Meanwhile, it should be noted that the U.S. has set a goal to increase the annual production of Patriot PAC-3 interceptors to approximately 2,000 units by 2030. To achieve this, they are expanding capacity at existing factories and issuing production licenses to several European countries."

Hrapchynskyi warned that Poland is involved in the production of the "Patriot" system, manufacturing the M-903 launchers on Polish chassis.

"Accordingly, it should be stated that Poland is also participating in the development of the new radar for the 'Patriot' system—a 360° panoramic radar, since the original 'Patriot' system used a sectoral radar capable of viewing only one sector. Therefore, I believe it is premature to discuss how much we can produce, as we still do not know exactly what we are supposed to manufacture. For example, Japan handles the final assembly of both PAC-3 and PAC-2 missiles; Germany assembles PAC-2 while the U.S. assembles PAC-3. Meanwhile, Japan produces the guidance heads, but the final assembly of these guidance heads is conducted in the U.S. This process involves numerous companies."

Hrapchynskyi also pointed out that the main obstacle to transferring production licenses to Ukraine is obtaining technical documentation.

The U.S. will only transfer a small portion of the work, allowing Ukraine to become part of an integrated system.

Hrapchynskyi emphasized that the U.S. is currently highly interested in rapidly expanding "Patriot" missile production. This is because Europe is beginning to consolidate its efforts to develop its own air and missile defense system—the pan-European "Freya" project.

"Consequently, the U.S. realizes it may lose some balance and its so-called monopoly position, as 'Patriot' is currently the most effective system worldwide. That said, similarly, Iris-T and SAMP-T could have also advanced significantly during these four and a half years of war and achieved superior technical performance. Overall, therefore, the U.S. is now actively moving toward granting multiple European countries the ability to produce parts of ballistic missiles—effectively shifting their focus so they cannot or will not pursue the development of their own systems," he concluded.

On the same day, Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine and the U.S. have reached an agreement on monthly deliveries of "Patriot" missiles. At the same time, Zelenskyy stressed that the supply volume remains insufficient, with fewer missiles delivered this year than previously. He added that Ukraine is continuously trying to negotiate missile interception supplies with European partners, especially Poland and Germany, which possess relevant missiles, as well as Scandinavian countries. Zelenskyy also mentioned that during the first year of the war, he had already requested then-U.S. President Joe Biden to grant Ukraine production rights to the "Patriot" system.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1872965880506375/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone.