The US-made Patriot missile system has been mentioned quite a lot in the last few days, from Ukraine claiming to have used one to shoot down one of Vladimir Putin’s “undefeatable” hypersonic Kinzhal missiles, to Moscow claiming to have destroyed one during a barrage of strikes on Kyiv.
So how powerful is the system, and how much is it helping Ukraine’s war effort?
The Patriot, which stands for Phased Array Tracking Radar
for Intercept on Target, is a surface-to-air missile defence system and considered one of the most advanced in the US arsenal.
It was first used in combat during the 1991 Gulf War, and used again during the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
It was designed before hypersonic weapons were sent to battlefield and the company behind it has not said publicly that it is effective against a missile flying at hypersonic speeds (anything above five times the speed of sound).
The system has different capabilities depending on the type of interceptor – the missile fired from the battery – used.
It is not clear what kind of Patriot systems have been donated to Ukraine, but it is likely that Kyiv has at least some newer PAC-3 CRI interceptors, which have a range of over 150km (93 miles).
However, Ukraine has said it needs more air defence systems to combat missile and drones strikes.
While the Patriot system is designed to intercept threats like aircraft and ballistic missiles, it can also shoot down the “kamikaze” drones Russia has frequently used – it’s just an expensive way to do so.
