Domestic cost: About US$1.09 billion (FY 2022) for a battery; US$4 million for a single PAC-3 MSE missileExport cost: About US$2.37–2.5 billion for a battery; US$6–10 million (FY 2018) for a single missile
They seem to be effective shooting $8 million worth of missiles at a drone. That is effective for Ukraine because it is all free. It's effective until there are no missiles and the Russians drop FAB glide bombs on their head.
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12297
Congressional Research Service Report
Updated January 18, 2023
PATRIOT Air and Missile Defense System for Ukraine
PATRIOT System CostsOfficial PATRIOT system cost figures are not publicly available. According to a December 16, 2022, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) article, “Patriot to Ukraine: What Does it Mean?,” a newly produced PATRIOT battery costs about $1.1 billion, including about $400 million for the system and about $690 million for the missiles. CSIS further suggests future U.S. PATRIOT battalions (U.S. PATRIOT battalions consist of four PATRIOT batteries) could cost up to $1.27 billion dollars apiece without missiles. PATRIOT interceptors are estimated to cost about $4 million per missile.
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Considerations for Congress
Oversight questions Congress could consider include the following:
- What are the readiness implications for the Army and Combatant Commands associated with providing a PATRIOT battery to Ukraine using Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA)?
- If additional PATRIOT systems and/or interceptors are provided to Ukraine, will DOD’s security cooperation authorities be used in lieu of PDA?
- With the high cost of PATRIOT interceptors, will restrictions be imposed on what types of hostile systems can be engaged by PATRIOT?
The Ukrainians have been conservative with all their SAM systems. Drones have been dealt with by much simpler point defense systems (from manpads to German Gepards to old style light AA guns).
The SAMs have been mostly used vs cruise missiles.
Part of the problem is that though Ukraine has other SAM systems, including Western ones like NASAMS and IRIS-T, only the S300’s and Patriot have the range and coverage to deal with cruise missiles over broad areas. They are extremely low, by now, on S300 ammo.