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The State Department has cleared the possible sale of 500 PAC-3 MSE interceptors to Ukraine for $2.1 billion. This is a notification of a possible Foreign Military Sale. It is not a contract, and it does not mean the missiles will be delivered this winter.
On October 30 Volodymyr Zelensky on his official account answered the same notice. He said five hundred PAC-3 interceptors is a significant number and that, if they are delivered this winter, they could be a very effective defense package. According to the President of Ukraine, however, it has been determined that deliveries may begin only in a few years. Therefore, he asked the American partners to look for a solution for the current danger and need for use of the PAC-3 interceptors.
Zelenskiy asks for this favor after restarting attacks against Russian infrastructure days before U.S. midterm elections to keep the upward pressure on gas prices and hurt President Trump’s efforts getting Republicans elected.
There is a large gap between the announcement by the State Department of a possible Foreign Military Sale for the sale of 500 PAC-3 MSE interceptors and what Ukraine’s president says he wants this winter.
Transmittal 26-113: This proposed Foreign Military Sale will include 500 PAC-3 MSE missiles, as well as classified and unclassified spare parts and logistics support for said missiles. The principal contractor for this sale will be Lockheed Martin in Bethesda, MD. The department said no additional US government or contractor representatives will be required to be in Ukraine to support this sale. The department also said this sale will not affect the defense capabilities of the US. The bill for this proposed sale is not paid by the US, as stated in the department’s notice. Rather, Ukraine will pay for these missiles with donations from Canada, Germany, and Norway through the JUMPSTART program as well as with national funds financed by the European Union’s Ukraine Support Loan.
He had asked for a winter package of about 100 Patriot interceptors per month, saying that 500 PAC-3s would be sufficient to cover the skies above Ukraine for several months and put Kyiv in a strong position at the negotiating table. He said the U.S. and European partners have ample stocks of PAC-3s, and that these could be transferred now and later replenished from production that has already been contracted and paid for by the country and its partners. The Ukrainian leader thanked President Trump and said he had discussed PAC-3 interceptors with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He is, however, asking for a decision to be made when it is most needed, in the face of the threat he described.
The sale of the interceptors is being notified to Congress as a possible Foreign Military Sale for which a contract would need to be written and the missiles could be either newly produced or pulled from existing stocks. Zelensky’s post treats those as the same emergency. Pulling interceptors from stocks this winter is a different decision from the one the department signed.
It is the same pattern over and over again. Washington issues a paper approval of a possible sale. Kyiv then treats this paper as if it had already been transferred into real stocks of missiles that can be used this winter. What the sale itself is, according to Zelensky’s own words, may not begin arriving for several years. He is now pressing for the stocks instead.
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