{"id":8605,"date":"2026-04-15T19:32:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T17:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deaidua.org\/news\/?p=8605"},"modified":"2026-04-15T19:32:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T17:32:42","slug":"germany-ukraine-developing-patriot-alternative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deaidua.org\/news\/2026\/04\/15\/germany-ukraine-developing-patriot-alternative\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany and Ukraine apparently developing a Patriot alternative"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In order to protect Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure in particular from Russian ballistic missile attacks, the Ukrainian army relies almost exclusively on the US-developed MIM-104 Patriot air defence system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the Franco-Italian SAMP\/T system is also an option, it is outperformed by the American MIM-104 Patriot, and so far, very few SAMP\/T fire units have been delivered to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and the ammunition supply situation is not much better either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Ukrainian army has built up a sizeable arsenal of \u201cPatriots\u201d since 2023 thanks to substantial international donations, primarily from Germany and the US, the withdrawal of most US bilateral military assistance last year and the war in Iran recently unleashed by the US have meant that the supply of ammunition has increasingly become a real problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was also evident recently when the German government attracted international attention because an initiative to supply Ukraine with just 35 PAC-3 missiles failed at least in part because, after weeks of negotiations with European partners, it was unable to secure all the desired donations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems clear to Ukraine that something needs to change drastically. The country is far too dependent on the goodwill of the US government and on financial assistance, most of which is provided by European partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ukrainian
Ukrainian soldiers stand in front of Patriot components during their training in Germany | Image: Bundeswehr\/Johannes Heyn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To change this, the Ukrainian defence company Fire Point plans to unveil its \u201cown\u201d air defence system with anti-ballistic capabilities as early as next year, whose missiles, at a unit price of less than $1 million, would be significantly cheaper than those fired by the American MIM-104 Patriot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a highly complex undertaking with a very optimistic target set by a company that has, in the past, made bold public promises that it has not always been able to keep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If, on the other hand, it proves successful, it is likely to fundamentally transform Ukraine\u2019s air defence capabilities in the area of ballistic missile defence from 2028 onwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a Reuters interview<\/a> published a few days ago with Fire Point co-founder Denys Shtilierman, the company aims to collaborate with European firms, particularly in the fields of radar, target-seeking and communications systems, to develop an alternative to the Patriot system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although no names have been mentioned publicly as of yet, it is now more or less officially confirmed that at least one or two German defence companies will be involved in this massive project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, the German government issued a comprehensive declaration on a strategic partnership between Germany and Ukraine and, under the heading \u201cPartnership for a more secure Europe\u201d, stated that both countries will focus efforts on accelerating the development of anti-ballistic missile air defence (in Ukraine).<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Declaration\"
The relevant part of the declaration on Germany’s and Ukraine’s strategic partnership<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A short sentence with a big impact. Whilst this statement could, in theory, refer \u201cmerely\u201d to a desire to increase and accelerate the supply of ammunition to the Ukrainian MIM-104 Patriot fire units \u2013 indeed, the delivery of several hundred PAC-2 GEM-T missiles was announced yesterday \u2013 this does not seem particularly likely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, Diehl Defence and HENSOLDT, for example, are two German defence companies which, on the one hand, are deeply involved in Ukraine\u2019s defence efforts and, on the other, rank among the world\u2019s leading manufacturers in their respective fields of \u201cair defence systems\u201d and \u201cradar technology\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It therefore comes as no surprise that Diehl Defence and Fire Point signed an agreement on technical cooperation between the two companies on the sidelines of yesterday\u2019s government consultations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ihor Fedirko, CEO of the Ukrainian Council of Defence Industry, announced this yesterday in a Facebook post<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not clear what this \u201ctechnical cooperation\u201d will entail, but it is highly likely that it will concern the very air defence system whose development Fire Point announced just a few days ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, Diehl Defence could not be reached for an official comment by the time this article was published.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diehl Defence as a partner<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It would be hard to find a better partner. The IRIS-T SLM, marketed by Diehl Defence, is arguably the most effective and advanced air defence system of its class in the Ukrainian Armed Forces\u2019 inventory and is held in high regard there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"IRIS-T
The IRIS-T SLM is the most effective and advanced air defence system of its class in the Ukrainian Armed Forces\u2019 inventory | Image: 540th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, the \u00dcberlingen-based defence contractor has been working for some time on its own developments (SLX and HYDEF), which also represent major advances in the effective defence against ballistic threats or are specifically designed for that purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A partnership with Fire Point is therefore likely to benefit not only Ukraine but also Diehl Defence, provided that the \u201clessons learnt\u201d are incorporated into the future development of its own systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

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In its search for an alternative to the US-made MIM-104 Patriot air defence system, which is currently crucial for Ukraine’s defence against ballistic missiles, Ukraine appears to be turning to Germany. A newly developed system could revolutionise Ukraine’s air defence in certain areas over the coming years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[332,925,267,312,269],"class_list":{"0":"post-8605","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-german-defence-industry","8":"tag-diehl-defence","9":"tag-fire-point","10":"tag-germany","11":"tag-mim-104-patriot","12":"tag-ukraine"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deaidua.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deaidua.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deaidua.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deaidua.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deaidua.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8605"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/deaidua.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8642,"href":"https:\/\/deaidua.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8605\/revisions\/8642"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deaidua.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deaidua.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deaidua.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deaidua.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}