The US government has approved the sale of the LCI system, low-cost interceptor, SkyCeptor to Poland. The low cost interceptor is part of the acquisition request for eight batteries Patriot advanced at the beginning of the month by the Minister of Defense, Antonio Macierewicz, to the US government. The marketing license guarantees Poland to acquire the technology SkyCeptor, framed in the program Patriot Wisla. The Polish industry will have a significant share in the development and production of the Raytheon system, equal to 50% of the program value.
Lo Skyceptor uses technology hit-to-kill to intercept short and medium range threats (70-250km) such as ballistic missiles, but (according to the company) at a fraction of the cost of current options. The interceptor is based on the missile Stunner, jointly developed by Israel and the United States: much cheaper than PAC-3, PAC-3 MSE and GEM-T, but also less effective. Often, the defender is in the unenviable position of launching interceptor missiles (always in pairs to avoid mistakes) whose cost far exceeds that of the incoming weapon. The SkyCeptor integration in the Patriot system could be useful to lower the cost curve.
Poland has already confirmed that interceptors will have to be able to counter Russian systems Iskander. The LCI family is designed to reduce missile defense costs.
Lo SkyCeptor it is the last asset hit-to-kill Family Patriot. PAC-3 and PAC-3 MSE missiles rely on kinetic impact energy to eliminate incoming threats. Finally, the GEM-T interceptor uses a fragmentation warhead to hit tactical ballistic missiles.
A single launcher can accommodate all four variants of the Patriot.
(image: Raytheon)
