According to a statement published by the Dutch Ministry of Defense on January 20, 2023, The Netherlands will deliver to Ukraine two launcher units of Patriot air defense missile systems and an undisclosed number of missiles.
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Dutch Army launcher unit of Patriot air defense missile system. (Picture source Army Recognition)
On January 18, 2023, the Army Recognition editorial team reported that the Netherlands approved a plan to deliver Ukraine with a Patriot air defense missile system and will join Germany and the United States which had already announced the previous days the delivery of a Patriot missile battery.
At the same time, the Netherlands will also provide the training of Ukrainian soldiers to operate the air defense missile system.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has requested the United States and European countries to provide urgently air defense systems to counter the recent attacks of Russian forces. Indeed, Russia continues to target everyday main cities of Ukraine with drones, fighter aircraft, and missiles.
The Dutch armed forces are equipped with 18 batteries of Patriot air defense missile systems including versions PAC-2 GEM and PAC-3.
The Patriot PAC-3 (Patriot Advanced Capability-3) is a surface-to-air missile system developed by Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. It is an upgraded version of the Patriot missile system and is designed to intercept and destroy short-range and medium-range ballistic missiles, as well as cruise missiles. The Patriot PAC-3 uses a hit-to-kill approach, where the kinetic energy of the interceptor missile is used to destroy the incoming missile, rather than using an explosive warhead.
A Patriot battery has six major components including a power plant [two vehicle-mounted 150 KW generators], radar set, engagement control station, launcher stations, antenna mast group, and interceptor missiles (PAC-2s and PAC-3s).
Official Patriot ranges and coverages are not available. Reportedly, the PATRIOT’s phase-arrayed radar system has a range in excess of 150 km and the capacity to track up to 100 targets, providing missile guidance data for up to nine missiles. The flight ceiling for Patriot interceptors is about 20 km. The Patriot air defense system can provide area coverage and defense for about 15 to 20 km for incoming ballistic missiles.
