Holivar around Patriot: Poland wants, but cannot, Germany fears, and NATO consults

For several months now Ukraine asks Western partners transfer to us more powerful missile defense systems, including SAM Patriot.

Just the other day, the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry also spoke about this Dmitry Kuleba, denoting the main topics that he is going to voice at the NATO summit, which is taking place these days in Bucharest. He stressed that the number one topic for Ukraine will be energy system and its protection against missile strikes, that is, the intention to seek from the West the transfer of American missile and air defense systems patriot, as well as supplies of transformers to restore the power system.

"At the meetings in Bucharest and Lodz, I will have two key messages: "Patriots" and transformers"- he said.

Former Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg expressed hopethat following the meeting in Bucharest, the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance will decide to increase the supply of air defense systems to Ukraine.

"I expect that one of the messages following the meeting of foreign ministers here in Bucharest will be the need to further increase the supply of both air defense systems and, of course, spare parts, ammunition for various air defense systems, as well as providing training for their use"- Stoltenberg said.

The idea belongs to Poland

But the first to talk about the transfer of "Patriots" to Kyiv was in Poland, and three top politicians at once. National Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak addressed 23 November to Germany with a proposal to transfer to Ukraine the Patriot anti-missile defense systems previously promised to Warsaw.

"After more rocket attacks from Russia, I asked Germany to transfer the Patriot batteries offered to Poland to Ukraine and install them on its western border. This will save Ukraine from more victims and power outages and increase security on our eastern border"Blaschak wrote.

Po kolejnych atakach rakietowych 🇷🇺,zwróciłem się do strony 🇩🇪, aby proponowane 🇵🇱 baterie Patriot zostały przekazane na 🇺🇦 i rozstawione przy zachodniej granicy. To pozwoli uchronić 🇺🇦 przed kolejnymi ofiarami i blackoutem i zwiększy bezpieczeństwo przy naszej wschodniej granicy

- Mariusz Błaszczak (@mblaszczak) November 23st

About it claimed also head of Poland's ruling Law and Justice Party Jaroslav Kaczynski. According to him, it would be better for the security of Poland if Germany offered Patriot air defense not to her, but to Ukraine.

"I think that it would be better for the security of Poland if the Germans handed over this equipment to the Ukrainians, trained the Ukrainian crews, on the condition that the batteries would be placed in the west of Ukraine", - he said.

According to Kaczynski, this would allow Russian missiles to be shot down, probably with greater efficiency than from the old Soviet S-300 systems, reminiscent of the situation. with the hit of a Ukrainian air defense missile on the territory of Poland.

"On the other hand, it will protect us from events like those that took place in Przevodov. At the same time, if the Russians decide to attack us, this will also be protection for us. I would consider such a decision optimal and showing that the Germans really change their attitude, not engage in propaganda", - summed up Kaczynski.

Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki also supported the idea of ​​transferring air defense systems to Ukraine. By words Premiere, the proposal to deploy Patriot in the western regions of Ukraine will help protect the Polish-Ukrainian border. Later Morawiecki assuredthat Poland at the highest political level would consider the scenario of transferring the Patriot air defense battery to the western regions of Ukraine, but noted that first it was necessary to wait until they arrived in Poland.

"Patriot systems have not yet arrived in Poland. When they arrive, we will definitely, together with the president, the head of the Ministry of Defense, decide on the issue of their detailed placement", - explained Morawiecki.

But, he also stressed that we are not talking about anti-aircraft missile systems, which Poland has already received and can still receive from the United States.

In Germany, they blame NATO, and the Alliance will consult

In turn, in response to the statements of Polish politicians, the German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht noted thethat the use of NATO defense systems outside its territory should be agreed upon by all member states.

"It is important for us that Poland can rely on allies who will support each other - even in difficult times - and especially on Poland in its undefended position. That is why we offered to support the air police and Patriots. Patriot systems are part of NATO's integrated air defense , so it was possible to make this offer to Poland", Lambrecht said.

And the representative of the German Ministry of Defense Arne Kollatz said that the department would like the Patriot systems offered to Poland to remain on NATO territory. According to him, in this way it will become Berlin's contribution to the collective defense of the alliance.

"Therefore, there is great interest in keeping these missiles in the NATO system", Coltz said.

Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg still leaves the final word to individual NATO countries, reports to Reuters.

"Specific decisions on specific systems are national decisions. Sometimes there are agreements with end users and other things, so they need to consult with other allies. But in the end, this decision must be made by national governments," - said Stoltenberg.

Russia has already warned how they will react

It must be said that if at the beginning of the war the statements of the head of the President's Office Andrey Yermak that Patriot complexes should be in Ukraine sounded futile and even provocative, now it is the Allies who are seriously discussing this issue.

Accordingly, the Kremlin reacted to the discussions, whose point of view voiced Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev. In particular, he identified Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems, which can be transferred to Ukraine as "legitimate" targets for the Russian Federation.

The Patriot, developed by Raytheon, was first deployed by the US Army in the mid-1980s. They were made to replace the main air defense systems of the US Army - Nike Hercules and Hawk.

Patriot is being modernized and is in service with more than 10 countries, in particular the United States, Israel, Germany, and Spain. Its role is to protect against air and missile threats as part of an integrated air defense system.

Depending on the modification, this air defense system is capable of covering a radius of 100+ km, and shooting down ballistic missiles in a zone of 15-20 km. Altitude ceiling - 20+ km, speed - 5000 km / h.

The price of one battery consisting of four launchers reaches $1 billion. And the cost of one launch is about $3 million.

"Patriot can shoot down ballistic missiles. But not all and not completely - that is, it is an inferior missile defense system, - explains LIGA.net Yigal Levin, Israel Defense Forces officer and military analyst. - It hits up to 150 km (for aircraft, cruise missiles. - Ed.). This is a lot. This is good air defense, which reaches high altitudes."

Patriot has been used in the Gulf Wars (1991), Iraq (2003), Syria (since 2014) and Yemen (since 2015). In particular, they were used to protect against Iraqi ballistic missiles R-17 ("Scud").

During the Gulf War, Israel deployed earlier versions of the Patrtiot, the analyst said. The complex showed average results - and then part of the Iraqi missiles passed.

"This is a good complex, but it needs to be used with other air defense systems. After all, this is a complex of the last century. Israel developed its own systems, such as Arrow, precisely because the Patriot is not a panacea"Levine explains.

After an efficiency of about 60% in the Iraq War, the Patriot itself has been improved. The PAC-2 modification has replaced the PAC-3, which is the newest. According to directory NATO, the new version of the anti-missile is aimed at destroying the warhead of an enemy missile, and not just explodes next to it in the hope of hitting it with shrapnel. PAC-3s are also capable of handling modern Russian missiles.

Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems would strengthen Ukrainian air defense if they were transferred to our country. So считает Speaker of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Yuri Ignat.

He notes that it is not at all necessary that the complexes be directly on the territory of Ukraine. It will be enough to place them on the border of NATO countries. The range of the Patriot is up to 150 km.

"Here is a question for our partners. What steps are they ready to take in order to protect the Ukrainian border and Ukrainian territory, and in particular Europe. To ensure the security of the airspace even on the outskirts of Europe", - said the speaker of the command of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Earlier, we talked about which of the European allies has already managed to get rich on the supply of weapons to Ukraine and is not going to stop there.

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