Patriot Missile Production: An Expert Explains How Long It Takes to Manufacture a PAC-3

Oleg Katkov, editor-in-chief of Defense Express, spoke to “Shelter” about this for the article “Ballistic Defense in Winter: Will Ukraine’s Own Missiles or an American License Help?”

He noted that even if Ukraine receives a license from the U.S. to produce missiles, the process of rolling out production would take years.

Katkov noted that it is difficult to assess the feasibility of production without specific details, as there is a difference between the PAC-2 and PAC-3 missiles.

"The PAC-3 MSE is an extremely complex and expensive missile, featuring unique technologies and bottlenecks that cannot be resolved in the medium term. The other, the PAC-2 GEM-T, is much simpler, but it is also significantly less effective at intercepting ballistic missiles,” explained the editor-in-chief of Defense Express.

Earlier, Reuters reported that the U.S. is continuing negotiations to grant Ukraine licenses to manufacture interceptor missiles for the Patriot systems.

As The Atlantic reported, American manufacturers of Patriot missiles fear that, once it receives the license, Ukraine will be able not only to establish production but also to improve the technology and produce missiles more cheaply and quickly.