America and its allies should send air defense systems to Ukraine to help the country defend its airspace against missile and other air attacks by Russian forces, US General Mark Milley, the head of the US military, told a news conference after a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which was established at the initiative of the US after the Russian attack on Ukraine.
We remind you that a meeting of the Contact Group was held today in Brussels, which gathered on the sidelines of the meeting of defense ministers of NATO member countries.
“The countries gathered today in Brussels must participate and help Ukraine to build and maintain an integrated defense system against air and missile attacks,” Milley said.
The latter then outlined the US plan to protect Ukraine’s skies. Thus, the US proposes that the various air defense systems that different countries have, including Israel and Germany, be given to Ukraine and then these systems can be used together to protect Ukrainian airspace.
“Many countries have the Patriot system, many countries have other systems. There is a whole series of Israeli systems that are extremely powerful. The Germans also have their own systems. Many countries that are present at the meeting today have a whole series of air defense systems. The main task will be to put these systems together, field them and train Ukrainians to use them. We have to remember that all these systems are different, make sure that they are connected to a single command and control center as long as they have radars that can communicate with each other and select targets,” explained Milley.
Implementing that strategy will be “very complicated from a technical point of view,” Milley said, adding that “the plan is achievable.”
When asked by a reporter when US air defense systems will arrive in Ukraine, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin replied that “They will arrive as soon as we can physically deliver them”.
