The Israeli air defense complex “David's Sling” is three times cheaper than the Patriot air defense system and fires five times cheaper missiles. There is also the Italian-French SAMP/T installation, which is already operating in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Air Defense Forces (ADF) can use two western installations to protect against missile and drone attacks of the Russian Armed Forces. One of these installations is already working — this is the SAMP/T air defense system. The second is produced in Israel and has better characteristics than the Patriot air defense system. Experts of the Defense Express portal explained the problems on the way of these SAMs to Ukraine.
Experts recalled the statement of President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, who said that Ukraine needs 25 Patriot installations for defense. At the same time, the Armed Forces can use other similar systems capable of repelling air attacks of the Russian Federation. In addition to Patriot, you can consider the SAMP/T and “David's Sling” installations, — going on the portal.
Strikes of Ukraine — is there a chance to get SAMP/T
The first air defense complex — SAMP/T. The complex is manufactured by the Eurosam company. France and Italy were involved in the production, and only one complex was produced. At the same time, Ukraine already received it in 2023. Since then, there has been no information that Eurosam has released another installation, — experts emphasized. That is, we should not expect help from this direction.
In the video from the manufacturing company, you can see how SAMP/T works. In particular, they visualized the flight of a missile, which seems to be shot down by a complex. In addition, you can see a control panel with ten monitors.
Israeli air defense complex — what is known
The second air defense complex — “David's sling“. The complex is produced by the Israeli company Rafael in cooperation with the American company Raytheon. The installation is capable of destroying aeroballistic targets at a distance of up to 300 km – this is twice as much as the Patriot (160 km), ballistic missiles – at least at a distance of up to 40 km (maximum indicators (not specified).The Stunner missile used by the complex is five times cheaper than missiles for the Patriot, — the explanation on the portal goes.
Experts explained that “David's Sling” already demonstrated its effectiveness in the fall of 2023, when it shot down the Hamas Ayash-250 missile. It is known that Finland bought the complex for 317 million euros — it is three times cheaper than the Patriot air defense system. However, there are several problems with the acquisition for Ukraine:
- it is not known how much “David's Sling” Israel has — that is, whether there is anything to sell;
- it is not clear whether Israel will cancel the unofficial “embargo” on the re-export of its weapons to Ukraine.
On the video — installation presentation. The manufacturing company assures that the air defense system is capable of protecting “a large area with minimal losses”.
The article first explained what the problem is in getting the Patriot air defense system. There are about a hundred launchers in the world, for example, in the USA — 60 pcs. However, there is no way to give them to Ukraine. This becomes clear, taking into account the area of the United States and the number of objects that need protection. There are no redundant PUs, which is why the search for “free” installations is so “difficult”, — going on the Defense Express.