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Netherlands’ Novel Approach to Delivering a Patriot System to Ukraine
Eight now. Ten later.
The ongoing efforts by allies to send long-range air defense systems to Ukraine seem never-ending and will likely continue even after the war.
While they might not continue supplying Ukraine post-war, expecting Ukraine to manage its own defenses, countries worldwide are already lining up to buy Patriot air-defense systems for their own security. The backlog for these systems is already extending into years and is expected to keep growing.
Today, there were two new developments:
Firstly, Germany announced it would be sending 100 Patriot missiles to Ukraine. Patriot missile production is still not where it should be. Lockheed Martin currently manufactures 550 missiles per year at its Camden facility in the United States, up from 350 in 2018, and is expected to reach 650 missiles by 2027. This rate hardly resembles wartime production for such a highly sought-after missile.
However, any production increase is beneficial. Countries that gear up to send missiles to Ukraine will want to be assured that their own stockpiles won’t be depleted. For this year, most of the missiles heading to Ukraine will have to come from existing inventories, not from the production line.
