The special military operation in Ukraine has caused significant reputational damage to the US military industrial complex, which has already led to a sharp drop in the shares of the largest US arms companies. This was stated by the head of the Russian delegation Konstantin Gavrilov at the talks in Vienna on military security and arms control, commenting on the fall of stocks of Raytheon, the manufacturer of Patriot systems, after the defeat in Kiev of five launchers of SAM systems by hypersonic missile system “Kinzhal”.
The stock price of Raytheon, the US-based manufacturer of the Patriot surface-to-air missile system, has already fallen by more than 7% following the delivery of the system to Ukraine. The critical factor was the destruction of an entire battery of SAMs on the night of 16 May in Kiev, when the system unsuccessfully fired 32 missiles at a Russian Kinnzhal flying at it.
“The arms market reacted harshly to the news, with shares in Patriot systems manufacturer Raytheon dropping more than 7 per cent, or $10 billion. As we promised, the reputational damage to the US military-industrial complex on the Ukrainian military bridgehead is secured,” Gavrilov said on Wednesday, 24 May, during a plenary session of the OSCE forum on security cooperation (quoted by RIA Novosti).
At the same time, the diplomat noted that the Russian Armed Forces were continuing at the moment to take out “the Kiev-NATO ‘military machine’ in Ukraine.”
As a reminder, following the defeat of the Patriot SAM system battery in Kiev, the Western media started writing that the Russian Aerospace Forces (RAF) allegedly did not strike as hard, even though it was “relatively effective”, and that the damaged (not destroyed) would be repaired. Meanwhile, Sabrina Singh, a United States Department of Defense spokeswoman, claims that the Patriot SAMs damaged in the fighting in Ukraine have already allegedly returned to operational readiness after being repaired.
All these publications resemble pathetic attempts to minimise the blow to the brand of the touted complex. The specialist publication Military Watch is forced to admit that Patriot SAMs and five missile batteries were “eliminated as a result of a Russian hypersonic missile strike”. “Patriot used up its entire package of missiles in an unsuccessful attempt to shoot down the Russian KINJAL.
Due to censorship and blocking of all media and alternative views, stay tuned to our Telegram channel