Israel Transfers Patriot Air Defense Systems to Ukraine

Israel has transferred Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine via U.S. mediation, Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Mykhailo Brodsky announced in an interview with the In Bed YouTube project.

“We agreed to transfer them to Ukraine. Unfortunately, this was not widely reported. But when people say Israel did not provide military aid, that is not true,” Brodsky stated.

He did not disclose how many systems were transferred.

Decommissioning of Israeli Patriots

In late April 2024, the Israeli Air Force started decommissioning several MIM-104 Patriot batteries. The process was first announced in February, with crews being retrained to operate newer systems.

The older Patriot systems are being phased out in favor of domestically developed air defense platforms, particularly the David’s Sling and Iron Dome systems, which have demonstrated effectiveness against modern threats.

According to The War Zone, as of the end of 2023, Israel was believed to have at least eight Patriot batteries, though the number of launchers was not publicly disclosed.

Some of Israel’s Patriots were upgraded to the Yahalom standard as part of a modernization initiative. The upgrade involved both software and hardware enhancements, enabling the systems to use PAC-3 missiles with improved capabilities against ballistic threats.

Israel received its first Patriot batteries in 1991, but the systems were not used in combat until 2014, when one was employed to intercept a Hamas drone launched from the Gaza Strip.

Since then, the system, originally designed to intercept aircraft, has shot down around ten aerial targets, including Syrian fighter jets that entered Israeli airspace in 2014 and 2018.

Read more in the article “Israel’s Patriot Air Defense: Counting Systems and Assessing Capabilities” on Militarnyi.

Delivery of Israeli Patriots to Ukraine

In June 2024, it emerged that the United States, Israel and Ukraine were in talks over the possible transfer of decommissioned Israeli Patriot surface-to-air missile systems to bolster Ukraine’s air defense capabilities.

At the time, the proposed arrangement involved the systems first being transferred from Israel to the United States, before being handed over to Ukraine.

The systems were likely undergoing refurbishment and upgrades in the US prior to delivery.

As early as January, reports indicated that US military transport aircraft had moved a shipment of Patriot missiles from Israel to Poland, intended for eventual delivery to Ukraine.

The shipment reportedly included around 90 missiles previously stored by the United States at an Israeli military depot.

The OSINTdefender analytical project tracked a series of flights by US Air Force C-17 transport aircraft traveling from Israel’s Hatzerim Airbase to Rzeszow, Poland, via Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

Rzeszow serves as a key logistics hub for coordinating and dispatching Western military aid to Ukraine.