U.S. President Donald Trump has agreed to grant Ukraine a license to manufacture missiles for Patriot systems. This was announced by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to UNN.
"We appealed to Trump with a request. He agreed to grant the license. And God willing, we will start this project in a year and a half," Zelenskyy said.
According to him, even if Ukraine establishes production of its own anti-ballistic missiles, the need for Patriot missiles will not disappear – these systems remain the foundation of the country's air defense.
Earlier, Trump stated that during a meeting with Zelenskyy, he would discuss the issue of supplying Patriot missiles to Ukraine.
What the license means in practice
This is not about supplying finished missiles, but about the right to manufacture them on Ukrainian territory or jointly with American partners. This is a longer and more complex path than direct supplies, but it provides independence from the limited production cycle in the U.S., where the queue for Patriots is scheduled for years ahead among dozens of customer countries.
The year-and-a-half timeline mentioned by Zelenskyy is approximate and depends on how quickly technical documentation, component localization, and production capacity can be agreed upon. For comparison: launching full-scale production of complex air defense systems is typically measured in such timeframes even with political agreement in place.
The question remains open: whether this license will become a real step toward Ukraine's technological autonomy in air defense, or will it remain an agreement on paper, as has happened with other announced defense initiatives.
