The Ukrainian military is ahead of schedule for exercises on Patriot systems. They are mastering modern missile complexes under an accelerated program and will complete training in the USA in a few weeks. Ukrainian Defense Attaché in the United States Boris Kremenetskyi informed the Ukrainian service of Voice of America about this.
"It's about weeks, I can't give an exact answer... A month has almost passed since they stayed. Usually, if you start learning from scratch, the training period can take from several months to a year," the attache said.
Ukrainians arrived at the Fort Sill military base in the state of Oklahoma in mid-January. At the time, the Pentagon said that their training to work with a modern air defense system would last several months. However, according to Borys Kremenetskyi, the terms were shortened thanks to the experience of the Ukrainian military.
"The program is really shortened compared to how other specialists are taught, and there is only one reason: we send for training those specialists who have experience in working with air defense systems. You know that our anti-aircraft defense is now quite successfully fighting the enemy's means of air attack. The specialists we sent have experience working with air defense systems, of course, not Patriot, with other systems, but they know the basics of operation, the basics of air defense systems, that is, they do not need to be taught the basic elements," the attache noted.
Kremenecki said that Ukrainians are trained at the military base, where all American specialists who service the Patriot systems, as well as specialists from the countries that receive these systems, undergo training.
The training program in Oklahoma provides that Ukrainians will not only quickly master the modern air defense system themselves, but will be ready to become instructors for other military personnel after returning home.
The attache did not specify the exact number of Ukrainians undergoing training in the USA. However, he noted that there are enough specialists to work with Patriot in Ukraine, so the main issue is to provide more of these systems.
"This system will significantly strengthen the capabilities of our air defense, especially in the fight against ballistic missiles. Therefore, this is a significant improvement in the capability of our air defense system. Of course, the one system we get is not enough. We are working to get more, we are ready, we have specialists who we are ready to send for further training. That is, the issue is obtaining additional systems. We are working with our partners in order to obtain them," Kremenecki noted.
On December 21, 2022, the United States announced the provision of a new $1.85 billion military aid package to Ukraine, which included the Patriot air defense system for the first time.
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