Germans planning with U.S to get Patriot missile to Ukraine??

Defence affairs analysis

The German government has confirmed plans to deliver MIM-104 Patriot long range air defence systems to Ukraine “as quickly as possible,” after a plan was reportedly agreed on with the United States. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has confirmed that Berlin stated that five Patriot systems from Germany’s own already seriously depleted inventory would be dispatched.

“We will coordinate closely in the coming days to determine how best to achieve this,” he stated after a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group. The minister further noted that Germany would supply surface-to-air missiles, and would finance the production of long range drones in Ukraine. Pistorius also confirmed longstanding speculation that planned Patriot supplies to Switzerland had been delayed, and that the systems previously intended for the Swiss Air Force would be diverted to the German Armed Forces, with deliveries occurring in 2027-2028 to replace units supplied to Ukraine. The Swiss government is reported to have assented to this.

 Costing an estimated $2.5 billion each, the financing of supplies of Patriot systems to Ukraine has been particularly burdensome for the Eastern European state’s supporters in the Western world, especially as the systems have taken significant losses in combat at rates far exceeding NATO members’ ability to replace them. Such losses have been confirmed by drone footage on multiple occasions from March 2024. Most recently Russian strikes in the late hours of July 21 successfully targeted one of Ukraine’s few remaining Patriot systems, destroying three surface-to-air missile launchers and an associated AN/MPQ-65 radar.