U.S.A recently announced that it would send its most advanced ground-based defence battery (Patriot system ) to Kyiv.

About Patriot system:

• The Patriot is one of the most sought-after defence systems and has been deployed in 18 countries, including the U.S.
  • History:
    • Initially developed as a system to intercept high-flying aircraft by Raytheon Technologies, the Patriot was modified in the 1980s to focus on other threats such as ballistic missiles.
    • The programme’s roots can be traced back to the 1960s when the Pentagon was looking to replace the HAWK and Nike-Hercules air defence systems.
  • Currently, Patriot batteries can defend against ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, drones, jets and “other threats”, but it doesn’t offer protection against low-flying small drones.
  • A mobile Patriot system includes a control centre, a radar station to detect threats, missile launchers to take out those threats and other support vehicles.
  • It can launch different types of interceptor missiles: The older PAC-1 and PAC-2 interceptors used a blast-fragmentation warhead, while the newer PAC-3 missile has a more advanced hit-to-kill technology.
  • The Patriot system’s radar has a range of over 150 km and it can track over 50 potential targets at the same time.