Ukraine Wants to Build Patriots at Home—US Manufacturers Fear It Could Do It Better and Cheaper

Ukraine’s push to manufacture Patriot air defense systems at home may be running into resistance from the weapon’s US manufacturers not simply over technology-security concerns, but because Ukrainian industry could eventually find ways to improve the system and produce it faster and at far lower cost, The Atlantic reported on August 9.

Raytheon and Lockheed Martin have publicly raised concerns that licensing Patriot production in Ukraine could expose sensitive intellectual property and technology to Russia, including through corruption or battlefield capture.

But according to The Atlantic, a Republican congressional official who supports granting Ukraine the license said the companies’ deeper concern may be commercial.

Raytheon and Lockheed “will officially frame their concerns around IP theft and tech transfer,” the official told The Atlantic, but “their real worry is that the Ukrainians will find a way to improve the Patriot and then produce them at scale faster and for much less money than what the existing production lines in the US could do.”

The issue comes as Ukraine faces an acute shortage of interceptors capable of stopping Russian ballistic missiles. Kyiv remains heavily dependent on US-made Patriot systems, while American inventories are also under growing pressure.

According to The Atlantic, the competing wars in Ukraine and Iran have exposed how quickly stocks of sophisticated air defense interceptors can be depleted.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated that the US has used roughly two-thirds of its Patriot stockpile allocated in the Middle East over the past six months.

At the same time, Russia has sharply intensified missile attacks on Ukraine. According to The Atlantic, Moscow fired 376 missiles last month—more than double the number launched in June—with many targeting Kyiv.

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With Patriot batteries running short of interceptors, an increasing number of ballistic threats are getting through Ukrainian defenses.

“The Ukrainians have active development programs for almost everything they need, and their intention is to be totally self-sufficient in the future,” independent security analyst Colby Badhwar told The Atlantic. However, he said, “right now they are still almost entirely reliant on allies for interceptors.”

A license to manufacture Patriots domestically would offer Ukraine a long-term way out of that dependence.

Even if Washington approved a production license soon, The Atlantic noted that establishing large-scale Patriot manufacturing in Ukraine would likely take years.

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That is why President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pursuing two tracks simultaneously: immediate deliveries of additional Patriot interceptors from partners and a longer-term effort to establish domestic production.

For Washington, licensing production could eventually turn Ukraine from one of the largest consumers of Patriot interceptors into another production center capable of supplying not only its own forces but potentially the US and other allied countries.

Earlier, Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine could begin establishing domestic production of Patriot air defense systems and components within 12 months, although completing the process may take several years because of licensing requirements, technology transfers, and international supply chains.

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