https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/patriot-missile-batteries-in-ukraine-would...Patriot Missile Batteries In Ukraine Would Be Top Targets For Russia
In Ukraine, the Patriot air defense system would face threats unlike any it’s faced before, but they would still be a very tough target.
byHoward Altman, Tyler Rogoway| PUBLISHED Dec 14, 2022
Beyond that, Patriot would be a huge upgrade specifically to Ukraine's long-range aerial surveillance and air defense capabilities aimed also at countering air-breathing threats like cruise missiles, aircraft, and drones, compared to the Soviet-era systems currently fielded by the country in this role. Russia is already struggling with existing Ukrainian air defenses that have done a pretty notable job of protecting the skies, keeping the Russian Air Force at bay from crossing into territory it does not control.
But the Patriot is a mainly static system that takes up a lot of space, requires a lot of troops to operate and has a radar with strong emissions that can be detected and geolocated by Russian signals intelligence systems, like those aboard IL-20 "Coot" spy planes. As such, it could be vulnerable to a wide range of Russian weapons, the ongoing use of which Patriots have never had to defend against.
“One Patriot battery with a full complement of launchers (six or more) requires 50 to 60 soldiers to emplace and then 25 to 30 soldiers to operate and maintain,” David Shank, a retired Army colonel and former commandant of the Army Air Defense Artillery School at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, told The War Zone Wednesday afternoon. “A Patriot battery uses approximately a square kilometer of land space so it’s susceptible to Russian ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance]. The radar when radiating emits a large signal and will ultimately be seen by Russian signal intelligence capabilities.”
You can see what a fully deployed modern Patriot battery looks like in this previous War Zone article.
A typical Patriot battery includes an AN/MPQ-53 or more capable AN/MPQ-65 phased array radar, which would be the most likely target of a Russian strike, Shank said.
“Anti-radiation missiles targeting the Patriot radar,” would likely be the main vector of attack. “Destroy the Patriot radar, and the system is useless.”
Russian fighters, like the Su-35S Flanker, can be equipped with Kh-31P long-range anti-radiation missiles which are themselves equipped with modular, interchangeable passive radar seekers, one of which was designed to specifically target the Patriot system. They have a range of 68 miles. The updated, Kh-31PD/PM, with an extended range of 160 miles, has a broadband seeker that allows it to target a wide range of anti-aircraft radars at once, which would come in handy for the Russian Air Force given the scope of additional air defense systems that could be arrayed around any Patriot battery installed in Ukraine.
Forum
Pages: 
