What are Patriot missiles – and why are supplies dwindling worldwide?
Demand for the US Patriot air defence system has increased this year as Ukraine’s war against the Russian invasion and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East has depleted supplies of interceptor missiles.
Ukraine is seeking further Patriot interceptors to defend itself against Russian ballistic missile attacks, while the Iran war has drained stores in the US and the Gulf.
Meanwhile, some European countries are hanging onto missiles that they may require for their own defence.
Here, The Independent takes a look at what Patriot missiles are, and why they are important to Ukraine.
The Patriot, short for Phased Array Tracking Radar for Intercept on Target, is a mobile surface-to-air missile defence system developed by Raytheon Technologies.
It is considered one of the most advanced air defence systems in the US arsenal, and it has been in service since the 1980s.
A typical battery includes radar and control systems, a power unit, launchers, and support vehicles.
The system can intercept aircraft, tactical ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, depending on the interceptor used.
The US batteries are regularly deployed around the world. Patriots are also operated or being purchased by the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Taiwan and Greece, among other countries.
The system has different capabilities depending on the type of interceptor used.
The earlier PAC-2 interceptor uses a blast-fragmentation warhead that detonates in the vicinity of a target, while the PAC-3 family of missiles uses more accurate “hit-to-kill” technology to physically collide with the target.
Raytheon makes the PAC-2 GEM-T interceptor, which can defeat smaller, short-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles or enemy aircraft. Lockheed Martin LMT.N, the world’s largest arms maker, builds the more advanced PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE), which can hit longer-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, aircraft and also hypersonics.
In July, Lockheed introduced a new interceptor, the PAC-3 Adapted Capability Effector (ACE), which it says will cost half as much while still be able to target short-range ballistic missiles, aircraft and cruise missiles.
The system’s radar has a range of over 150 km (93 miles) and can simultaneously track up to 100 potential targets, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) said in 2015.
