Russia’s Vladimir Putin launched another missile barrage on Ukraine early Tuesday, and thanks to Western air defenses Kyiv says it took down 18 projectiles, including six hypersonic missiles. If true, this is another testament that America produces the world’s best military equipment.
But the Patriot battery President Biden offered in December after 10 months of dithering can’t cover all of Ukraine’s skies. President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he wants 20. The U.S. is reluctant to donate more, as Army air defense units work overtime in Europe and elsewhere. Also in short supply are the munitions.
The Pentagon calls Patriots a “low-density, high-demand asset,” which is bureaucratese for we don’t have enough. Yet Mr. Biden can still decide to dig deeper into allied stocks for Ukraine, while launching an all-out effort to build more faster.
There’s no strategic case for letting Ukraine exhaust its air defenses while failing to give it the equipment needed to end the war. That means ponying up the long-range Army tactical missile system that Mr. Biden has refused to offer. The Patriot’s prowess is a reminder that the U.S. has the ingenuity to meet the world’s rapidly growing threats. What it needs is political will.
