Patriot and Samp: why Kiev wants US and Italian-French anti-aircraft defences

American Patriots and the Samp/T, the Franco-Italian air defence system: this is what Kiev wants to protect itself from the Russian deluge of fire coming from the sky. The two missile systems are crucial for Ukraine to protect sensitive targets (primarily cities) from Russian missile attacks, especially fearsome hypersonic airborne ballistic missiles Kinžal ('dagger' in Russian).

The American Patriots, which became famous in the Iraq war, are crucial not only to counter Russian terrorist campaigns, carried out with 'standard' missiles targeting energy infrastructure and population centres, but also to reduce the impact of enemy air forces along the front line. The advanced Western systems proved capable of shooting down even the infamous Kinžal missile. The detection and tracking radar system is the most important part of the Patriot equipment, as it can withstand enemy electronic countermeasures, detect targets more than 100 kilometres away, and track up to 100 targets simultaneously. At least 90 soldiers must be deployed for each individual launch battery.

The Patriots that could be deployed in Ukraine "are at least 100", said Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba a few days ago, a figure also endorsed by the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell. But NATO Secretary General Jens Stontelberg intervened to emphasise that the number of batteries in Europe is 'top secret information' and that in any case 'they are significantly' less than 100.

Atlantic Alliance number one Stontelberg recalled that it is the US that has the most systems of all: 300 operational batteries capable of launching 1,200 missiles, some of them risked in the Middle East after the start of the conflict between Hamas and Israel. Washington 'has global responsibilities', Stoltenberg said, as if to show Kiev which door to knock on.

There are 16 countries that have Patriots, apart from the US of course. In Europe the largest number of systems are in Germany, which has 12, with over eighty launch batteries. The other countries on the US list are Greece, the Netherlands (3 recently modernised systems), Spain (6 batteries, plus another 4 ordered in October with 24 launchers), Sweden (4), Romania (7 ordered, 4 already operational), Poland (6 batteries but the system is not yet operational). These are joined by Japan, South Korea, Israel, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Taiwan, Baharein. And surprisingly also Switzerland: the first delivery is scheduled for 2026.