Monitoring Desk
WASHINGTON: Ukrainian troops are expected to begin training on the Patriot missile defense system at a military base in the United States in the coming weeks, a US official said on Tuesday.
While speaking on the condition of anonymity, the official told Reuters that the training would occur at Fort Sill in Oklahoma.
Ukrainian troops have previously received training in the United States, including on the Switchblade drones.
The training program will be held at Fort Sill in Oklahoma state, where the US conducts its training on operating and maintaining the latest air defense system.
Ukrainian troops to get training at Fort Sill
Fort Sill is one of the four main training locations of the Army and home to the service’s field artillery school, which has been training service members for over a century.
The training for the Ukrainians on the complex system is expected to take “several months,” said Laura Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia.
“I’m not going to be able to give you a specific timeframe for the completion of the training,” Cooper said Friday.
One day earlier, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said the US was looking at various options for conducting the Patriot missile training “to include potential training here in the US, overseas, or a combination of both.” Politico reported in December that any US-based training would likely occur at Fort Sill.
