Washington.- President Biden approved sending another Patriot missile system to Ukraine, a senior administration official and a military official said, as that country is struggling to stop Russian attacks on its cities, infrastructure and electric plants.
Biden made the decision last week, officials said, after a series of high-level meetings and an international debate on how to address Ukraine’s urgent needs to improve its air defenses without jeopardizing the United States’ combat readiness. Joined.
The system could be deployed to the Ukrainian war front in the coming days, U.S. officials said, depending on the maintenance and modifications needed.
Considered one of America’s best air defense weapons, the Patriot includes a powerful radar system and mobile launchers that fire missiles at incoming projectiles.
It is also one of the rarest weapons in the United States arsenal.
Pentagon officials refuse to reveal how many it has, although one senior military official said the Army has deployed only 14 of them, in the United States and around the world.
American allies also have Patriots, and two of those nations have sent a pair to Ukraine, although American officials expect European nations to send more.
Officials have described moving those crucial systems to certain places in the world where they are needed, including evaluating which global crises they are most needed to defend American troops, bases and allies.
Demand for Patriots and other air defenses from the Pentagon’s Central Command, which conducts operations in the Middle East, has been especially intense over the past year, and particularly since the deadly Hamas attack on Israel in October.
Pentagon officials do not want to move US batteries. There is a Patriot Battery at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, to train American and Ukrainian troops.
Other batteries protecting bases and troops in the United States include Hawaii, and have been considered necessary for the country’s defense.
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