Three experts: So it will be difficult to send Patriot to Ukraine

My message is simple. Give us Patriots now.”

This is what Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said after the latest NATO meeting in Hungary on November 29.

But experts believe it will be some time before Ukraine gains access to the advanced US Patriot air defense system.

– It won’t happen in the near future. I think NATO countries will wait and see how things go with the existing air defense systems, says Arash Hedrian Pashakhanloo, lecturer in military sciences at the Norwegian Defense Academy.

Even Rein Bella, a defense systems instructor at the Norwegian Defense Academy, believes it will take at least six months before Ukraine gains access to the Patriots and that they will then have to be used with caution because the state-of-the-art system may contain sensitive information and technology.

– It can only be used to defend Kyiv, you are far from the Russian troops.

Hundreds of miles for repairs

Many of the existing weapons systems that Ukraine has received need to be transferred to NATO countries Lithuania and Poland for repair and maintenance. This is also the case with the Patriot, which needs specially trained personnel to maintain it.

– There is a long training period to operate the system and you would need civilian mechanics on site, because NATO forces are unimaginable, says Lt. Col. Joachim Pasikivi.

But at the same time, many experts stress that the Patriot system for Ukraine is not entirely unreasonable, despite the challenges.

– The idea of ​​\u200b\u200bdelivery of various weapons often complicates. But everything that the Ukrainians got, they were able to learn and implement quickly, says Lieutenant Colonel Joachim Pasikivy.