Ukrainian Air Force F-16 fighter jets fly over a Patriot air and missile defense system in an undisclosed location in Ukraine, on Aug. 4, 2024.
Efrem Lukatsky/AP
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Efrem Lukatsky/AP
KYIV, Ukraine, and WASHINGTON — Russia’s massive air assault against Ukraine before dawn on Saturday included 27 ballistic missiles, many pounding the capital Kyiv, killing nine people and wounding more than 30. The attack was larger than most, though Russia carries out airstrikes almost every night.
What made this notable was Ukraine’s inability to defend itself. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the military shot down just one of those Russian missiles.
“Only one ballistic missile was intercepted, simply because there are no interceptors for the Patriot systems,” the Ukrainian leader wrote on social media.
Zelenskyy was referring to the U.S.-made Patriot air defense system that is the country’s only reliable way to defend against Russian ballistic missile attacks. Ukraine has been largely helpless in similar Russian onslaughts in recent weeks.
Ukraine faces the most urgent need for a fresh supply of Patriot interceptors. But the U.S. also has concerns about its own stockpiles of Patriots, which have declined dramatically during the war in Iran.
In addition, U.S. allies in the Gulf are also wondering when they will be able to get more Patriots if there’s renewed fighting with Iran and they exhaust their current inventories.
U.S. stockpiles shrink
In June, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called news reports about a shortage of Patriot missiles a “manufactured story.” However, two months earlier, Hegseth acknowledged that replenishing missile stockpiles could take “months and years.”
The Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington said in July that the U.S. had more than 2,300 Patriots before President Trump launched the Iran war on Feb. 28. Today, the number is around 800.
The exact number of Patriot interceptors is classified, but a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, told NPR that the CSIS figures appeared accurate.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Trump attend the dignified transfer of four U.S. service members recently killed in the Middle East, July 22, at Dover Air Force Base, Del.
Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
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Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
The U.S. military introduced the Patriot system in the 1980s and it received its first big test in the 1991 Gulf War when the U.S. used it to defend against Iraqi Scud missiles.
Now, nearly 20 countries allied with the U.S. — in Europe, Asia and the Middle East — have the Patriot system and depend on it to defend against ballistic missiles, one of the most powerful conventional weapons.
However, the Russians and the Iranians have been firing ballistic missiles in numbers that outpace the rate at which Patriot interceptors are being produced.
Raytheon (now RTX) makes the Patriot missile battery, as well as the missiles it uses. Lockheed Martin also makes missiles for the Patriot, which run around $4 million each. Together they have been making fewer than 1,000 a year, which seemed to be enough until demand surged with the Russia-Ukraine and the U.S.-Iran wars.
The two American companies plan to ramp up production, though it’s not clear how long it will take to replace — or perhaps increase — inventories worldwide.
Ukraine appeals for help
Ukraine began receiving the Patriot air defense batteries three years ago and has used them effectively to limit the damage caused by Russian attacks. Ukraine views the Patriot as critical to its defense and has repeatedly asked for both more of the Patriot systems and the missiles that go with them.
“The Patriot system has really been the main ballistic missile defense system. It’s a really big stockpile problem. I don’t know if there’s any immediate solution,” said Rob Lee, a U.S. military analyst living in Ukraine and working with the Foreign Policy Research Institute of Philadelphia.
Zelenskyy is now making an urgent plea for other countries to send some of their Patriot missiles to Ukraine. He says they shouldn’t be stockpiled for “hypothetical scenarios, but used here and now, to contain and stop the Russian war.”
So far, no country has publicly pledged to send any more missiles to Ukraine.
A pledge by Trump, who then backtracked
At last month’s NATO summit in Turkey, Trump told Zelenskyy he’d give Ukraine the license to build its own Patriots.
After they met last week at the White House, Zelenskyy headed straight to talks with Lockheed Martin to discuss moving the process along.
But last Friday, Trump backpedaled.
“We have to be very careful about letting somebody build them,” Trump said. “You have to be very judicious, but you have to be very careful. Now, we have not agreed to that. We’re talking about it. But it’s a hard thing to give away that kind of technology.”
Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican and former Air Force general who is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said he still supports allowing Ukraine to build its own Patriots.
“While 70 percent of Americans support Ukraine, the policies of the White House make them appear to be in the 30 percent. Enabling the Ukrainians to build the Patriot would have helped relieve the shortage of interceptors we face today,” Bacon told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty earlier this week. “I wish the president was more of a Reagan or Churchill when it comes to Russia.”
But even if Ukraine gets a license to build Patriots, it would likely take several years before those missiles came off the production line. That’s because of a stretched supply chain for missile components, according to U.S. officials and analysts.
Germany and Japan are the only countries that have been granted licenses by the U.S. to make Patriots.
The U.S. has another highly advanced missile interceptor, called THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense). The U.S. has only shared this system with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The U.S. has also used many of these missiles in the Iran war. The CSIS report said the U.S. stockpiles for THAAD missiles went from around 450 before the Iran war to about 250 today.
Greg Myre reported from Kyiv and Tom Bowman from Washington.
This story originally appeared on NPR
