Romania bolsters Ukraine with cutting-edge Patriot defence
In October 2024, Romania delivered one of its two newest Patriot PAC-3+ battery systems to Ukraine. It has been revealed that Romania will receive compensation from the USA in a few years. Here’s what makes the Patriot PAC-3+ special.
The American Department of Defense announced awarding RTX (Raytheon) a contract worth $946 million to produce Patriot system components. This order is designated for Romania under the FMS (Foreign Military Sales) program and will be completed by December 31, 2029. It serves as compensation for delivering the only operational PAC-3+ battery to Ukraine.
Patriot PAC-3+ - the final evolution of the famed US system
Current Patriot batteries are built to the PAC-3+ standard, significantly outperforming older models from the 1980s and 90s. The key components are the PAC-3 MSE missiles and the IBCS command system, an integrated air and missile defense system.
IBCS (Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System) represents a network-centric approach to air defense, allowing the integration of many previously separate systems into one. A major advantage is the decentralization of battery data. Unlike older systems, the destruction of the command point, known as the EOC (Engagement Operation Center), does not "silence" the entire battery system if its other components survive the attack.
Within Patriot systems operating under IBCS, the possibility of connecting undamaged elements like radars and launchers to another EOC greatly complicates the enemy's efforts to "silence" air defense. It is also worth mentioning that in the coming years, Patriot users with the PAC-3+ version will have the opportunity to replace AN/MPQ-65 sector radars, which have a viewing angle of 120 degrees, with new LTAMDS radars capable of detecting objects in 360 degrees.
The second crucial component is the highly effective, albeit costly, PAC-3 MSE missiles (over $5 million each). Their mass production only began in 2018. Unlike the usual fragmentation warhead, these missiles use kinetic energy exclusively to destroy targets, making them a more reliable way to hit a target but requiring pinpoint accuracy. Thanks to these missiles, shooting down, for instance, Iskanders-M or hypersonic KH-47 Kinzhal missiles is not a problem.
