Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
President United States of America Joe Biden announced it would send an additional $1.85 billion in aid to Ukraineincluding defense equipment such as the system Patriot missiles that Kiev always wanted.
The announcement was made by Biden during his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, Washington DC, Zelensky’s first trip outside Ukraine since his country was hit by the Russian invasion in February.
According to Zelensky, US assistance, especially the Patriot missile system, is able to help the resistance of Ukrainian troops on the battlefield, who are currently making progress in pushing back the Russian army.
What is a Patriot Missile?
The missile, which stands for Phased Array Tracking Radar for Intercept on Target, is a missile defense system surface-air created by Raytheon Technologies Corp RTX.N.
Patriot missiles are considered one of the most advanced air defense systems owned by Uncle Sam’s country.
To collect Reuters, this system was used for the first time in 1991 during the Arab Gulf War. At that time, patriot missiles secured the territory of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Israel.
The defense system was used again during the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Patriot missiles usually consist of a powerful radar system, control station, power generator, launch station and other support equipment.
These systems have different capabilities depending on the type of interceptor used. For example, the interceptor on the Patriot PAC-2 missile uses a high-blast fragmentation warhead. Unlike the PAC-3 which uses the technology hit to kill more sophisticated.
According to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Patriot missile radar has a range of over 150 kilometers.
When to get to Ukraine?
US officials told Reuters the Patriot missiles would arrive in Germany first. Ukrainian troops will be trained on how to operate the defense system there.
Training can take months. The troops needed to make it work must run into the dozens.
After that, Ukraine can decide how and where to place the Patriot missiles so that the Russians don’t find out.
So far, the Kremlin has made it clear that Patriot missiles are their target to attack in the war in Ukraine.
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