Interview: „Wer mit ballistischen Raketen angreift, ist immer im Vorteil“
Der Luftkrieg mit Raketen stellt den Westen vor ein Dilemma: Angreifer produzieren mehr und billiger als Verteidiger, sagt Fabian Hoffmann. Im Interview skizziert der Politikwissenschaftler Lösungen.
The ongoing ground war in Ukraine has intensified with increasingly heavy aerial attacks, particularly from Russia. The escalation of the conflict includes massive rocket and missile strikes, some of which are made by Ukraine's self-developed missiles. While Russia produces large quantities of rockets and missiles, Ukraine lacks the necessary countermeasures to defend against them.
Among the available defenses, the Patriot missile system, specifically the PAC-3 MSE variant, is considered the most effective. However, Western nations have underestimated the threat of ballistic missiles from Iran, North Korea, and Russia, resulting in insufficient deployment of such systems. This shortage is further exacerbated by the large-scale missile production in Iran and North Korea, as well as Russia's increasing production capacity, estimated at up to 900 missiles per year.
The US manufacturer Lockheed Martin currently produces around 700 missiles annually, with only about 300 being sold to European customers. Nonetheless, this supply is far from adequate to meet the needs of Ukraine and other allies. To address this issue, Germany and other Western nations are exploring alternative solutions, such as the development of new defense systems, increased production of existing systems, and the acquisition of advanced long-range strike capabilities.
However, these efforts are likely to take years to implement, leaving Ukraine and its allies vulnerable in the interim.
Written by urgent.news from Handelsblatt's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
