U.S.–Ukraine Patriot licensing talks continue despite Trump’s equivocations
Patriot SAM launcher (Photo: Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo)
Washington and Kyiv continue negotiating a license for Ukraine
to manufacture Patriot
interceptors despite President Donald Trump’s vague statements on the matter,
Reuters reported
on Aug. 5, citing our people familiar with the talks.
The discussions center on the PAC-3, the most sophisticated interceptor and the only one available to Ukraine to shoot down Russian ballistic missiles.
“During a meeting with Zelenskiy in Ankara, Turkey, last month, Trump said the U.S. would grant Ukraine a license to manufacture PAC-3s in a boost for Kyiv,” Reuters noted.
“But last week, Trump appeared to reverse course after what two of the sources described as a challenging meeting with Zelenskiy at the White House. He told reporters that the U.S. had not agreed to letting Ukraine build Patriot missiles and the U.S. must be ‘very careful about letting somebody build them.”
Three people familiar with the deliberations said U.S. defense and industry officials had long delayed the idea over security concerns. Negotiations are now being led by U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker, who traveled to Kyiv last month to discuss options with Ukrainian officials and defense manufacturers. “There has been no order to stop discussions,” one source said, adding that talks with U.S. manufacturers and the military are continuing. The White House declined to comment.
Reuters reported that several options are under consideration: making individual components in Ukraine with final assembly in Germany; integrating Kyiv into an existing U.S.-European Patriot production program; or permitting production of a less expensive PAC-3 variant.
One U.S. official familiar with the matter said final assembly in Germany, where an older interceptor model is already produced and PAC-3 is planned, was seen as the most realistic option. Another alternative is joining Ukraine to Lockheed Martin’s recently announced, cheaper PAC-3 ACE interceptor.
Even if a deal is reached, Reuters said the first
Ukrainian-made interceptors are unlikely to appear for a year or more.
The military war may be swinging in our favor, but the information war continues.
Just as an army needs soldiers, so does a free society need its journalists to ensure that people have access to honest, trustworthy voices to understand the world around them.
For the past five years, The New Voice of Ukraine has been working tirelessly to push back against Russian narratives and defend democracy. But we cannot do it alone.
Please consider supporting us on Patreon for just $5 a month – your donation does directly to supporting journalists and ensuring that this front of the infowar says solid and defended.
Thank you.
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google News
