While Russia intensifies its massive ballistic missile attacks and drones against Ukrainian cities and tests an increasingly vulnerable air defense, President Volodymyr Zelensky has put on the table an unprecedented request to the United States: authorize Ukraine to manufacture under license the interceptor missiles of the Patriot system. The proposal reflects kyiv’s growing concern about the shortage of these projectilesconsidered essential to neutralize the most sophisticated threats in the Russian arsenal, and raises questions about whether Washington will be willing to transfer a highly sensitive military technology and how such a decision could upset the balance of the war.

Currently, Ukraine uses the Patriot as its main defense component In the context of the war started by Russia in 2022.

However, the intensive use of Patriot during the war of the United States and Israel against Iranwhich began on February 28, has depleted the reserves of interceptor missiles, so their delivery to Ukraine has been decreasing.

 

Reserves under pressure: The war in Iran has consumed about a third of the Patriot interceptor stockpile and Gulf countries have fired more than 1,100 such missiles.

 

 

Insufficient production: Lockheed Martin manufactures around 600 Patriot interceptors a year, a figure considered insufficient to meet global demand. The company is looking to more than triple that capacity.

 

According to the British newspaper The Guardian, Each Patriot battery, made up of multiple elements, costs around $1 billion.. While each interceptor missile costs between 3 and 4.2 million dollars.

On Monday, after the latest massive airstrike by Russia contra Ukrainein which Moscow fired 68 missiles and 351 drones, Zelensky reiterated his request to President Donald Trump to give him the necessary licenses for kyiv to manufacture Patriot systems with its European partners. and the missiles interceptores PAC-3 which they use as ammunition.

Ukraine receives most of the missiles PAC-3 which are supplied periodically thanks to financial contributions from Europe, which allow the available units to be purchased from the US.

Upon his return to the White House in January 2025, Trump cut off most free weapons supplies to Ukraine.

Although there is no official data, it is estimated that Ukraine has received about 10 Patriot batteries from different Western allies such as the United States, Germany, the Netherlands and Romania.

According to Ukrainian officials cited by The New York Times, since the beginning of the Russian invasion Ukraine has received approximately 600 Patriot interceptor missiles. Most of it would have been contributed by European countries with authorization from the United States. It is not known how many are left in their warehouses.

The Russian strategy to hit Ukraine

Rescuers work on a residential building partially destroyed as a result of the Russia

He Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in one of his most recent analyzes that Russia is adapting its airstrike campaign to exploit the growing shortage of Patriot interceptors in Ukraineconsidered the only ones capable of reliably shooting down ballistic missiles like the Iskander, S-400, Zirkon and Onyx.

The study center analyzed the massive bombing launched by Russia between July 5 and 6, the fourth of its kind since the beginning of June.

According to the ISW, although the Ukrainian air defense managed to intercept almost all cruise missiles and most of the drones, It failed to shoot down any of the 29 ballistic missiles used in the attack. Zelensky himself attributed this result to the lack of interceptors Patriotwhile the Ukrainian Air Force claimed that those projectiles were responsible for most of the destruction recorded in Kiev.