According to information published by the Slovak Ministry of Defense, a NATO battle group will be deployed in Slovakia including 1,200 foreign soldiers from Slovakia, Germany, and The Netherlands with the Patriot air defense missile systems.
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Dutch army Patriot air defense missile system launcher unit. (Picture source NATO)
Citing the Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad, Slovakia will provide 300 soldiers to this new NATO battle group, at the same time, Slovakia has also requested the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovenia to join the battle group with the goal to create a defense force of 1,500 soldiers.
Citing information from the "NL Times" published on February 26, 2022, The Netherlands is also investigating whether it can send a Patriot missile air defense unit to Slovakia as part of its obligation to NATO, together with Germany.
Citing information from "The Moscow Times" published on March 1, 2022, Russia's air force still does not enjoy total superiority in the skies above Ukraine despite its overwhelming numerical advantage, part of the reason for the army's slow progress on the ground, experts say.
Currently, many pictures and videos published on the Internet showed combat and transport helicopters to conduct tactical operations and bombardment including MI-24 Hind to KA-50/52 and even MI-28 Havoc. Since the beginning of the war, Ukraine shows various Russian Attack Helicopters conducting combat missions against Ukrainian targets in several undisclosed locations.
Ukraine has requested NATO countries to provide air defense missile systems and man-portable surface-to-air missiles.
The Patriot is a surface-to-air guided missile that is in service with several NATO countries including Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Spain, and the United States. PATRIOT systems have four operational functions: communications, command and control, radar surveillance, and missile
(interceptor) guidance.
A Patriot battery has six major components including a power plant, radar set, an engagement control station, launcher stations, the antenna mast group, and the interceptor missiles themselves.
The Radar Set provides detection and tracking of targets as well as fire control. The phased array radar helps guide interceptors to their targets and is resistant to jamming. The Engagement Control Station calculates trajectories for interceptors and controls the launching sequence. It communicates with the launcher stations and other PATRIOT batteries. It is the only manned station in a Patriot fire unit. The Antenna Mast Group is the main communications backbone for the PATRIOT unit. The radar system is able to detect aerial threats at a distance of 150 km.
The system's missiles are transported on and launched from the M901 Launching Station, which can carry up to four PAC-2 missiles or up to sixteen PAC-3 missiles. The missile has a maximum firing range of 160 km for conventional aerial targets and 20 km against ballistic missiles.
