Russia-Ukraine War: Latest News and Live Updates
FORT SILL, Oklahoma — Several dozen Ukrainian soldiers are completing training on the Patriot missile system and within weeks are deployed to the front lines of the war, armed with America’s most advanced ground-based air defenses to protect against Russian missile attacks.
The Ukrainian soldiers, all seasoned combat veterans familiar with Russian-designed artillery systems, have amazed their American instructors by how quickly they mastered the complexities of operating and maintaining the sophisticated Patriots, which unlike other Western systems launch ballistic missiles in Russia can has deployed, and can hit much more distant targets.
Now, at the end of a 10-week, customized crash course at this US Army base, Ukrainians are essentially conducting their own training, American instructors said, adjusting tactics and techniques in real time in response to Russian attacks on power grids and others goals at home.
At an overcast, windswept training ground Tuesday, Ukrainians rehearsed building a Patriot battery — tracking radar, control systems, a generator and launch stations capable of launching multiple missiles simultaneously — like those the United States agreed to donate in December. The exercise, which was completed in less than 45 minutes, stopped short of firing live rockets.
“In our estimation, the Ukrainian soldiers are impressive and absolutely quick to learn given their extensive air defense knowledge and experience in a combat zone,” Brig. Gen. Gen. Shane P. Morgan, the Fort Sill commander, told reporters.
The US military has trained or is in the process of training almost 4,000 Ukrainian soldiers at firing ranges in Germany. But for the Patriot system, Pentagon officials decided to train the Ukrainians on American soil. At Fort Sill, a historic former frontier cavalry post in southwest Oklahoma, 5,100 soldiers from the United States and 18 other nations learn how to operate and maintain the Patriot system each year.
Since arriving in mid-January, the Ukrainian students have spent 10 hours a day, six days a week in classes and exercises, military officials said. Sessions are generally in English, with some translation.
In a more informal exchange, American trainers say they get tips from their Ukrainian students who have fought Russian forces that the Americans have not yet directly engaged in combat.
American instructors said they were able to accelerate introductory courses and move on to more advanced concepts because Ukrainians were already familiar with Soviet-era systems, which gave them a reference point when working on a more automated platform like the Patriot.
“This is Patriot training done at lightning speed. it’s quite remarkable,” said Thomas Karako, who directs the missile defense project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington and has written extensively on the Patriot system and training.
The army on Tuesday for the first time allowed a group of reporters access to the training of 65 Ukrainian soldiers, chosen by their commanders to learn how to run the Patriot system. The Pentagon said in January that 90 to 100 Ukrainians were expected to complete the training, about the number of American troops needed to operate a US Army Patriot battery, but Ukraine decided to send fewer forces , American officials said.
The Pentagon imposed strict guidelines on the three-hour visit. It banned photos or videos of the training and its participants, and banned interviews with the fatigue-clad Ukrainian soldiers who stood yards from reporters at the training ground.
The restrictions reflect ongoing concerns in the White House and Pentagon about stoking Russian ire over Western involvement in the war or triggering a larger conflict. At the same time, however, the Biden administration has insisted that US-based training itself is unlikely to increase tensions with Russia. Officials reiterated Tuesday that the Patriot is a defensive system, not an offensive weapon.
“The Patriot air defense system poses, no, I say again, no threat to Russia,” said Colonel Martin O’Donnell, a spokesman for US forces in Europe and Africa who oversees US training in Germany.
After landing at Fort Sill in the next few days, the Ukrainians will travel to Poland, where their Patriot system will be waiting for them, American officials said. The troops will then spend a few weeks with other Ukrainian soldiers who have been conducting similar training in Europe on a Patriot battery donated by Germany and the Netherlands, officials said.
Once all operational issues are resolved, the two Ukraine-operated Patriot batteries will most likely be deployed to the war zone in April, officials said. France and Italy have announced that they will send air defense systems similar to the Patriot.
Where and how the Patriot systems are deployed is up to the Ukrainian government, officials said. Since Russian President Vladimir V. Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine last February, Moscow has unleashed a spate of missile and air strikes on civilian and military targets.
Ukraine’s leaders are likely to use the patriots to defend high-priority targets, such as vital parts of the country’s power grid and other civilian infrastructure. These were hit particularly hard by Russian high-speed ballistic missiles.
The Patriot system works most effectively as part of what the military calls a “layered defense,” which includes other air defenses used to repel or thwart drones and fighter jets, as well as an array of cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, officials said . Its ability to repel weapons such as Russia’s Kinzhal hypersonic missile is still unknown.
Air defense specialists warned against considering the Patriot as a silver bullet against all threats. “A Patriot battery cannot turn the conflict around,” Mr. Karako said. “But in combination with the German and Dutch battery, it allows Ukraine to design defenses in depth.”
President Biden’s decision in December to deploy the Patriot system was a powerful sign of the deepening United States military commitment to Ukraine. The Pentagon’s active-duty Patriot units are frequently deployed on missions around the world, and experts say the United States doesn’t have the kind of deep inventories of Patriot missiles available for transfer that it does with munitions like artillery shells and rockets.
The Patriot is one of the most sought-after air defense systems in the American arms market and is deployed by Saudi and UAE forces in Yemen and across the NATO alliance in Europe.
The Patriot is also by far the most expensive single-weapons system the United States has shipped to Ukraine, at a total cost of about $1.1 billion: $400 million for the system and $690 million for the missiles.
A single interceptor missile costs about $4 million, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Each launcher costs around $10 million.