Patriot missile system | Ukrainian soldiers to wrap up training soon; Pentagon says it will be quicker than initially planned

Ukrainian soldiers are expected to leave Oklahoma in the next several days for additional training in Europe before they deploy to Ukraine with a Patriot missile battery that typically includes six mobile launchers, a mobile radar, a power generator and an engagement control centre. The Patriot missile system, which hasn’t yet been deployed in Ukraine, is particularly useful for defending population centres and critical infrastructure, said Brig. Gen. Shane Morgan, Fort Sill’s commanding general.

Several large, 12-wheeled military vehicles carrying mobile missile launchers rumbled across the southwest Oklahoma prairie on March 21 as part of a training exercise at the Fort Sill Army Post.

Spilling out of the sand-coloured vehicles and quickly setting up the launchers were some of the 65 Ukrainian soldiers who have been training at the installation since January on how to use the defensive missile system to track and shoot down enemy aircraft. U.S. military officials invited journalists from across the country and Europe, including The Associated Press, to watch the soldiers train.

The Patriot missile system, which hasn't yet been deployed in Ukraine, is particularly useful for defending population centres and critical infrastructure, said Brig. Gen. Shane Morgan, Fort Sill's commanding general.

The soldiers are expected to leave Oklahoma in the next several days for additional training in Europe before they deploy to Ukraine with a Patriot missile battery that typically includes six mobile launchers, a mobile radar, a power generator and an engagement control centre.

Military officials did not provide an exact timeline for when the missile battery will deploy to Ukraine. But a Pentagon spokesman said it will be quicker than initially planned.

“For operation security reasons, I’m not going to get into delivery timelines other than to say we’re confident that we’ll be able to get the Patriots there on an expedited timeline, I’ll just leave it at that,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said at a Pentagon briefing on March 21.

Col. Martin O’Donnell, a U.S. Army spokesman based in Germany, said the newly trained Ukrainian troops will “marry up with other Ukrainian air defenders" in Europe with donated Patriot equipment from the U.S., Netherlands and Germany before deploying to Ukraine “in the coming weeks.”