Overview
- A CNN visit to a Ukrainian Patriot battery found 16 empty launch tubes and crew members who said the launcher had not fired for six weeks because interceptors were exhausted.
- Heavy use of Patriot PAC‑3 interceptors in the Gulf conflict with Iran sharply drained global stocks, with analysts reporting hundreds of interceptors used daily while 2025 production remained far lower.
- The Pentagon signed a multi‑year contract to expand PAC‑3 output toward roughly 2,000 missiles a year by 2030, but that ramp will not close the present shortfall quickly.
- President Volodymyr Zelensky has offered licensed production in Ukraine and invited manufacturers to build plants, yet U.S. officials have given no guarantees and Ukrainian engineers say local manufacture cannot be done immediately.
- Ukrainian firms are testing lower‑cost interceptors such as Fire Point’s FP‑7.x, but those systems have not proven repeated ballistic‑missile interceptions, leaving civilians and infrastructure more exposed this winter.