The Patriot anti-aircraft missile system, which the United States has promised to deliver to Ukraine, has been around since the early 1980s.

It has been in service with the Bundeswehr since 1989.

The weapon system from the American manufacturer Raytheon is used to combat larger airborne targets such as aircraft, drones, rockets and cruise missiles.

The ground-based Patriot system is mobile, the launch pads can be mounted on trucks.

A Patriot battery can track up to 50 targets and engage five objects at once.

According to the Bundeswehr, the range is around 68 kilometers.

The name "Patriot" is the abbreviation for the English term "Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept on Target".

Each truck carries between four and eight rockets

If the radar system detects a flying object, a computer-assisted check is carried out to determine whether it is from a friend or foe.

In the event of an attack, approaching objects are attacked with the system's five-metre-long rockets.

They are fired from up to eight associated launchers mounted on trucks.

Each truck carries between four and eight missiles.

In view of the massive Russian air raids, particularly on the Ukrainian energy infrastructure, the United States has now promised Kyiv, after a long period of reluctance, to deliver the Patriot system for the first time.

On Wednesday, during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's first trip abroad since the war began, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States would deliver the air defense system to Ukraine as part of a $1.85 billion (around 1.74 billion euro) aid package.

The United States had previously indicated that the Ukrainian army needed training to use this sophisticated device, which would happen "in a third country" and "take some time".

According to media reports, Ukrainian soldiers are to be trained in using the Patriot batteries at the American military training area in Grafenwoehr, Bavaria.

Germany currently has around a dozen Patriot systems.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, two squadrons have been stationed in Slovakia to protect the NATO partner, and the German Patriot system is also to be deployed in Poland soon.

The federal government rejected a delivery to the Ukraine initially requested by Warsaw.