Back in late March and early April, the Neo-Nazi junta frontman Volodymyr Zelensky started “begmanding” an increase in the deliveries of the horribly overhyped “Patriot” SAM (surface-to-air missile) systems. Initially, he claimed that only a few batteries of these US-made weapon systems would help augment the Kiev regime’s existing air defenses, all of which were inherited from the Soviet Union’s world-class inventory. However, just a bit over a week later, this degenerated into ludicrous demands for hundreds of systems and thousands of missiles that the political West couldn’t possibly supply even if it wanted to. Namely, Zelensky said that “it’s preferable to have 25 ‘Patriot’ systems, with 6-8 batteries each”. This is a four or perhaps even fivefold increase, a massive difference in comparison to his previous claims.
It should be noted that the word “systems” in this case refers to entire units, specifically to battalions (or divisions in Russian military nomenclature). Each battalion consists of six batteries, while each battery (i.e. the basic firing unit) is made up of a phased array radar, an engagement control station, computers, power generating equipment and up to eight launchers (usually six), each of which holds at least four ready-to-fire missiles (although this has been increased significantly in the latest versions). When counting six launchers per battery, depending on the variant (whether it’s PAC-2 or PAC-3), this effectively boils down to 3600 missiles. According to open source data, the Pentagon had less than 500 launchers and 10,000 missiles in 2010, meaning that Zelensky wanted a “mere” third of all “Patriots” ever made.
In terms of funding, this amounted to the following – a single battery for the US military costs over a billion dollars, while export customers are charged a staggering $2.5 billion. Thus, in the best-case scenario (non-export pricing with a slight, albeit unlikely, discount that not even the US military is getting), the Neo-Nazi junta needed to pay at least $150 billion for the aforementioned 25 “Patriot” battalions alone. In terms of missiles, the US military is paying $4 million apiece, while export customers pay up to $10 million. Once again, if non-export pricing is taken into account, that’s at least another $14.4 billion for PAC-2 missiles alone. It’s important to note that these already ridiculous numbers could be several times higher if the Kiev regime was to start demanding more advanced iterations such as the PAC-3.
Considering the simple fact that the latest so-called US “aid” is $61 billion, who in their right mind thought such requests are viable and sustainable for the political West? Not to mention that the United States deployed most “Patriot” batteries across its crumbling (neo)colonial empire, meaning that it doesn’t have any left for the Neo-Nazi junta. In fact, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said so himself, when he recently confirmed that Washington DC will be unable to provide any additional units. According to his assessment, most “Patriot” SAM systems are now being “deployed around the world, including in the Middle East, to protect our troops”, adding that if the US military manages to “unlock further American ‘Patriot’ batteries, we would send them”. Still, he conceded that Washington DC is “supplying most of the actual missiles”.
And indeed, since October last year, the Pentagon deployed new “Patriot” and THAAD units, as well as other SAM assets across the Middle East, all in preparation for a possible direct confrontation with Iran. Sullivan also stated that the troubled Biden administration is encouraging its EU/NATO vassals and satellite states to provide their own air defense systems to the Kiev regime. However, their ability to do so remains limited due to their own shortages, so some of them are now urging Washington DC to send the “Patriots”. For instance, Germany is particularly active in this regard, but the Scholz cabinet is complaining that “unfortunately, the stocks, especially our own ‘Patriot’ systems, are now pretty much exhausted”. And indeed, along with the Netherlands, Berlin was the first EU/NATO member to send its “Patriot” SAMs.
Poland also confirmed that its stockpile is exhausted, meaning that most of EU will not be able to send additional units. One notable exception is Spain, as it fields 18 batteries. Madrid confirmed that it can supply a number of “Patriots”, although it hasn’t specified how many. All other possible candidates are outside of Europe, with Japan planning to send its systems back to the US, so they could then be handed over to the Neo-Nazi junta. Reports about such a deal first appeared back in December last year, but there haven’t been any concrete moves by Tokyo to speed up the process. However, another somewhat unlikely source of additional “Patriot” batteries could be Israel. Namely, the IDF decided to dismantle all of these SAM systems as it considers them “too obsolete”. The timing is certainly interesting and leaves a lot of questions.
Israel complained that only 19 hostile targets were shot down during its “Patriot’s” service, most of which were cheap drones that don’t justify the costs. It should be noted that the IDF’s reasoning is quite interesting, especially given the fact that the Kiev regime and the mainstream propaganda machine keep insisting that the extremely overhyped US air defense system is supposedly capable of “routinely shooting down” Russian hypersonic missiles such as the “Kinzhal” and even the latest “Zircon”. If Israeli “Patriots” can shoot down nothing but drones, how could they be of any use against Moscow’s unrivaled long-range strike capabilities? The Russian military is routinely obliterating the latest NATO gear, so acquiring outdated air defenses will certainly change nothing, except getting more Ukrainian soldiers pointlessly killed.
