The second group of roughly 70 military personnel have completed the training program on the Patriot anti-missile/anti-aircraft surface-to-air missile system. The soldiers and officers have graduated on December 1st, Deutsche Welle reports, citing Lt. Gen. Andreas Marlow, commander of a transnational training command in Germany.
The course lasted for over six weeks, Marlow said. On the other hand, Germany's official Team Luftwaffe account reported the actual start of training with Patriots on October 30th, meaning that it took five weeks for Ukrainian personnel to master the sophisticated Western air defense system.
Read more: From S-300 Switched Over to Patriot: Ukrainian Operators of American Air Defense Systems About the Differences and Training in Germany
Either way, even the six-week timeframe is a record-breaking achievement. For comparison, the first group of Ukrainian future Patriot operators officially started learning on February 2nd, 2023, followed by the arrival of the first system on April 19th along with the ready-to-go personnel, educated in just 10 weeks. That is, despite the estimates they would need no less than 10 months of comprehensive learning.
The newly graduated Ukrainian operators admit that Patriot is an intricate system and some aspects they will have to learn onward. Marlow adds that the course will finish with a "two-day training during which we rehearse all we've learned so far."
All the soldiers who had undergone the course, already had real combat experience repelling russian air threats, operating such systems as S-300, for example.
Marlow noted that the Germans, in turn, received much tactical advice from their Ukrainian colleagues based on their experience: "starting with infantry to engineering and air defense forces," he said. The insights will help the Bundeswehr to review its approaches to operational warfare.
Earlier Defense Express reported on the number of Kinzhal-47 ballistic missiles, downed by Ukrainian air defense, including Patriot systems, as officially revealed by the Ukrainian Air Force.
Read more: Ukraine's Air Force Reveals the Number of Downed Kinzhal-47 Missiles and Why Allies Give Launchers, Not Entire Air Defense Systems
