{"id":3581,"date":"2026-10-31T14:03:49","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:03:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3581"},"modified":"2026-10-31T14:03:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:03:49","slug":"us-approves-2-1bn-sale-of-500-patriot-missiles-to-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3581","title":{"rendered":"US approves $2.1bn sale of 500 Patriot missiles to Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The US State Department said it had approved the sale of 500 Patriot PAC-3 \u200cmissiles to Ukraine<\/u><\/a> for an estimated $2.1 billion, in what would be one of the most significant steps to supply defensive weapons to Kyiv since the start of the second Trump administration.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Delayed missile deliveries have added to Ukraine\u2019s tensions with the US after President Donald Trump<\/u><\/a> announced a diesel deal with Russia and criticised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky \u200bfor Ukraine\u2019s unwillingness to stop attacks on Russian refineries.<\/p>\n

Ukraine has long said it urgently needs more missile interceptors to knock down \u200bthe growing waves of missiles Russia\u2019s military fires at the country.<\/p>\n

The Patriot missile system is the most effective \u2060weapon to counter fast-moving ballistic missiles.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, a Russian drone strike killed at least 14<\/u><\/a> people on a crowded rail platform in the Ukrainian \u200bcity of Dnipro, while 5 died in daytime strikes on two other provincial cities and a late-evening missile strike killed 1 person in the \u200bcapital Kyiv, officials said.<\/p>\n

Zelensky said on Monday that Ukraine had been waiting for almost a month for the US to sign off on critical missile supplies, as Russia stepped up attacks on energy and civilian infrastructure.<\/p>\n

But despite Ukraine\u2019s urgency, it will likely not receive the missile interceptors quickly.<\/p>\n

Weapons sales typically take years to fulfil, and \u200btwo people briefed on the US decision said the missiles \u2014 which are yet to be manufactured \u2014 are not expected to be delivered until \u200ba couple of years into the 2030s.<\/p>\n

One of the people said Ukraine\u2019s Ministry of Defence is encouraging the Pentagon to bring forward the delivery date, possibly by \u200cgiving Kyiv \u2060missiles already in the US arsenal and backfilling with the new Patriot interceptors.<\/p>\n

Ukraine will pay for the missiles with contributions from Canada, Germany and Norway routed through a program called US JUMPSTART, along with national funds financed by the European Union\u2019s Ukraine Support Loan, the State Department said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The programme uses donations from allies to buy weapons, services and training for Ukraine to support its self-defence following Russia\u2019s invasion, according to \u200ba Pentagon website.<\/p>\n

The JUMPSTART programme was \u200bused in August to buy \u20603,350 air-launched cruise missiles worth $825 million made by Zone 5 Technologies and CoAspire.<\/p>\n

Lockheed Martin is the principal contractor for the sale of the Patriot interceptors.<\/p>\n

The US has supplied large quantities of weapons to allies while also \u200busing munitions in its own military operations in Iran, raising concerns about inventories of key air defence \u200band precision-guided weapons.<\/p>\n

In July, \u2060the US Army awarded Lockheed<\/u><\/a> a contract worth up to $58.6 billion to produce Patriot interceptor missiles.<\/p>\n

Lockheed has said that deal would allow it to follow through on a promise to triple PAC-3 MSE production capacity by the end of 2030 and increase jobs at its Camden, Arkansas, plant by 50%, to \u2060about 1,850 \u200bfrom 1,200.<\/p>\n

Lockheed previously announced Patriot PAC-3 missile interceptor production would go to 2,000 units \u200bannually.<\/p>\n

Pentagon negotiators are pressing contractors to move much faster, with tentative production agreements struck earlier this year at the centre of efforts to increase missile output.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The US State Department said it had approved the sale of 500 Patriot PAC-3 \u200cmissiles to Ukraine for an estimated $2.1 billion, in what would be one of the most significant steps to supply defensive weapons to Kyiv since the start of the second Trump administration. Delayed missile deliveries have added to Ukraine\u2019s tensions with the US after President Donald Trump announced a diesel deal with Russia and criticised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky \u200bfor Ukraine\u2019s unwillingness to stop attacks on Russian refineries. Ukraine has long said it urgently needs more…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3581\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}