A Patriot license won’t help Ukraine in the next two years — expert

American licenses for the production of interceptor missiles for the Patriot air defense system are unlikely to bring Ukraine any practical benefit this year or next.

This is reported by The Telegraph.

The publication cites the opinion of Thomas Withington, an expert at the Royal United Services Institute specializing in electronic warfare and air defense.

“It’s one thing to say: ‘You can produce this under license in Ukraine’ — that’s great news. But the snag is that you then have to build a factory, build a production line, train staff on that line. All of this takes time, money, and effort,” Withington explained.

According to experts consulted by the publication, Ukraine will have to travel a “considerable distance” before it can produce complex surface-to-air missiles. Their production is unlikely to be possible this year or next.

According to media reports, the missiles for Patriot will be produced in Germany, not in Ukraine.

Earlier, German military commentator Julian Röpcke stated that Russia’s defense industry would manage to manufacture 1,400 ballistic missiles by the time Kyiv establishes its own production of Patriot interceptors under an American license. According to him, setting up such production could take two years.