The Ukrainian military arrived in the USA to master the MIM-104 Patriot air defense system
As Fox News reporter Austin Westfall reported on Twitter, about 100 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine arrived at USA to begin training at the MIM-104 Patriot anti-aircraft missile complex.
“Roughly 100 Ukrainian troops arrived on U.S. soil this evening – they’ll soon begin training on the Patriot missile system at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. President Zelenskyi says that the system will make a significant difference in bolstering Kyiv’s defenses against Russia,” the journalist wrote.
Previously, the US military said that the training program for the use of MIM-104 Patriot systems lasts from six months to a year, but it seems that the Pentagon has developed a shortened training program specifically for Ukrainians. At the end of December 2022 this was reported by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba.
In theory, the MIM-104 Patriot in the PAC-3 MSE (Patriot Advanced Capability 3 Missile Segment Enhancement) configuration can shoot down ballistic targets such as long-range anti-aircraft missiles 48Н6DM of the S-400 complexes and Kh-22 Burya supersonic cruise missiles, one of which hit a house in Dnipro. But Ukraine, most likely, will receive a less advanced version of MIM-104C (PAC-2) or MIM-104D (PAC-2/GEM).