Trump gives Zelenskyy vague promise of licence to manufacture Patriot missiles

Donald Trump admitted he had not spoken to the US defence and aerospace companies that produce the Patriot system about the licence for Ukraine. Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP View image in fullscreen Donald Trump admitted he had not spoken to the US defence and aerospace companies that produce the Patriot system about the licence for Ukraine. Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP Trump gives Zelenskyy vague promise of licence to manufacture Patriot missiles Licence would be diplomatic coup for Kyiv but process of making munitions would likely be expensive, complex and long Europe live – latest updates Donald Trump has told Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ukraine may be allowed to manufacture Patriot missile interceptors to counter Russian ballistic attacks. It would be a diplomatic coup for Kyiv, which has been struggling to counter Moscow’s increasing missile threat. The US president’s commitment, however, was vaguely framed, and he admitted he had not spoken to the US defence and aerospace companies Lockheed Martin and RTX Corporation (formerly Raytheon) that produce the Patriot system. It also remained unclear how quickly manufacturing of the expensive and complex munitions could be stepped up. Trump, sitting next to the Ukrainian president at the Nato summit in Ankara, Turkey, said: “A little birdie told me this, about the fact that we’ll give them the right to make Patriots. We’ll show them how to do it, it’s very complex actually. But it’s – you’ll figure out the complexity quickly.” He clarified: “We’re going to give a license to you to make Patriots. This way, you can’t complain that we’re not giving them enough. However, in a blow to Ukraine’s air defence capabilities in the short-term, Trump indicated that the US would not be able to supply Ukraine quickly with Patriot interceptors from its own stockpile. “We have Patriots, but we don’t have that many. We need them for ourselves too,” Trump said. There is a global shortage of Patriot interceptors due to the running down of stockpiles by Ukraine and Gulf states caught up the US-Israel war against Iran. View image in fullscreen Zelenskyy has been asking for more Patriot missles for years, but there is a global shortage due to the running down of stockpiles by Ukraine and Gulf states caught up in the US-Israel war on Iran. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images They are expensive to produce – at about $3m for a single interceptor – and until very recently the US was producing no more than 60 a month, a figure that has recently increased. Zelenskyy has for years been asking for more of them, and more recently for a license so that Ukraine can manufacture its own. Even at the current increased rate of production it is estimated that the US would not manage to replenish its stockpile for its own use until 2028. All of which makes it extremely unlikely that Ukraine would be able to deploy locally-produced Patriot interceptors any time soon. George Beebe a former senior Russia analyst at the CIA who is now the director of