German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius is set to discuss the possibility of Germany paying for American Patriot air defence systems for Ukraine, as he heads to Washington to meet with U.S. Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth.

On Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. would send an undisclosed number of Patriots to Ukraine, and that the European Union would pay for them.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has asked for more defensive capabilities, among them Patriot systems and missiles, to fend off daily missile and drone attacks from Russia.

Here is some key information about the Patriot:

WHAT IS THE PATRIOT SYSTEM?

The Patriot, short for Phased Array Tracking Radar for Intercept on Target, is a mobile surface-to-air missile defence system developed by Raytheon Technologies.

It is considered one of the most advanced air defence systems in the U.S. arsenal and has been in service since the 1980s.

A typical battery includes radar and control systems, a power unit, launchers, and support vehicles. The system can intercept aircraft, tactical ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, depending on the interceptor used.

HOW DOES THE PATRIOT WORK?

The system has different capabilities depending on the type of interceptor used.

The earlier PAC-2 interceptor uses a blast-fragmentation warhead that detonates in the vicinity of a target, while the PAC-3 family of missiles uses more accurate technology that hits the target directly.

It is not clear what kind of Patriot systems have been donated to Ukraine, but it is likely that Kyiv has at least some of the newer PAC-3 CRI interceptors.

The system's radar has a range of over 150 km (93 miles), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) said in 2015.

Although the Patriot was not originally designed to intercept hype...