Ukraine’s Metinvest Group has produced armored shields for the country’s Patriot air defense systems, enhancing safety against enemy counterattacks.
The first protection armor has already been outfitted on an operational Patriot command center.
Its 8-millimeter (0.3 inch) steel plates are made of 30KhN2MA grade steel and consist of nearly 200 elements, providing enhanced wear and mechanical stress resistance, strength, and toughness.
The over 2.6-ton shield protects the system and the crew from blast fragmentation, without affecting the platform’s functionality and mobility.
“The defenders of the sky also need reliable protection. Since this is one of the key areas of the Steel Front initiative, where we have extensive experience, it is no surprise that we were entrusted with such a responsible mission,” Metinvest Group Chief Operating Officer Oleksandr Myronenko said.
“We developed the project from scratch in a month a half, and, following the blueprints, manufactured a shield for the crews of the Patriot surface-to-air missile system using Metinvest’s Ukrainian armour steel.”
Steel Front Defence Initiative
The shield is part of group founder Rinat Akhmetov’s 4.4-billion Ukrainian hryvnia ($104 million) initiative to strengthen Ukraine’s defense.
Apart from the Patriot, a Germany-donated IRIS-T air defense system command vehicle was recently outfitted with protective armor.
Over 300 armored shields have been delivered to the Ukrainian military by the group, including for the T-64 and T-72 tanks, American M1 Abrams tanks, and Bradley infantry fighting vehicles.
Ukrainian Leopard main battle tanks have also begun receiving steel grid screens from Metinvest Group for protection against first-person view drones.
In addition, the company is also producing decoys of key Western military platforms such as HIMARS, howitzers, and radar systems, to trick the Russian military into wasting ammunition.
