Bloomberg: Ukraine’s Patriot missile production could take years

Ukraine could establish domestic production of missiles for U.S.-made Patriot air defence systems after securing the necessary licensing, but the process is expected to take significant time, according to Ukrainian officials and analysts by Bloomberg.

Serhiy “Flash” Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukraine’s defence minister, said that once a license is granted, Ukraine would be able to organise production, as it would receive full technological documentation, training for specialists, supplier contacts and support from external consultants.

However, he stressed that the primary constraint is not technological capability but the time required to build a complete production cycle.

“The only problem is time. All this could take a year or more. It is impossible to even roughly estimate the сроки, since we do not know, for example, how long subcontractors will need to manufacture various components,” Beskrestnov said.

Analysts suggest the timeline could be even longer. Becca Wasser, who leads defence analysis at Bloomberg Economics, said that establishing Patriot missile production in Ukraine is likely to take significantly more time than initial estimates suggest.

By Tamilla Hasanova