Ukraine could produce Patriot missiles more cheaply and faster than the United States, alarming American manufacturers — The Atlantic
Kyiv • UNN
Ukraine may find a way to produce Patriot missiles more cheaply and faster than the United States. American manufacturers fear that Kyiv will improve the Patriot and mass-produce them at a lower cost.
Ukraine may find a way to produce Patriot missiles more cheaply and quickly than the United States, which frightens American manufacturers. The Atlantic writes, as reported by UNN.
Details
It is noted that, officially, Raytheon and Lockheed explain their refusal to transfer licenses to Ukraine by citing the risk of intellectual property theft and technology transfer. However, a source cited by the publication claims that the real reason lies in fears that Kyiv will find a way to improve the Patriot and then produce them on a large scale and at a much lower cost.
On August 8 ... (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy suggested ... that Trump had agreed to grant the license: "We have now reached an agreement with President Trump that he will grant the licenses, but imagine if we had received them four years ago. By now, we would already be producing Patriots for everyone." At the time of writing, Washington had not confirmed that Trump had concluded a licensing agreement. But fulfilling this request would make sense, given Ukraine's military evolution
The authors point out that Zelenskyy made it clear that the main reason for the delay at this point is bureaucracy and "red tape."
Context
In July, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked Donald Trump to provide Ukraine with an emergency "winter package" of interceptor missiles for Patriot air defense systems to help prevent Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure
U.S. President Donald Trump, in response, cited the depletion of American stockpiles.
Later, Zelenskyy stated that, alongside searching for missiles for Patriot systems, Ukraine is developing its own anti-ballistic project, Freyja, led by the Ukrainian defense company Fire Point.