MIM-104 Patriot is a Surface-To-Air missile (SAM) system, the primary of its kind used by the United States Army and several allied nations

Despite Washington's threats to impose sanctions on states buying military equipment from Moscow, many of them, such as Turkey, India and Indonesia, still stick with Russian weaponry, citing its outstanding quality.

Russian Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin explained in an interview with Sputnik why many states around the world prefer to buy Russian S-300 and S-400 air defence systems over US-made Patriots or even upgraded Patriot PAC-3+ systems. According to him, none of the air defence systems in the world can come close to most of the S-300 and S-400's parameters.

"Everyone understands that no Patriot, even its PAC-3+ version, can be better than the S-300, not to speak of the S-400. There is no system better [than the Russian ones] either by effective range, or by number of targets that can be attacked simultaneously, or by number of tracked targets, or by the target's speed. In all those parameters, we beat the Patriot PAC-3+," he said.

Fomin further noted that while the Patriot system can hit targets at speeds up to 2,000 meters per second, the Russian air defense systems can shoot down targets flying at 4,700 meters per second. The deputy defense minister explained that such targets have not even been developed yet and will probably only be created by 2040-2050.

"Everyone understands this and thus despite the fear [of sanctions] realize that there are no [air defense systems] better than ours," he concluded.

Several states have faced the risk of being affected by US sanctions over their contracts to buy Russian military equipment. Namely, Turkey and India are facing such a threat over their contracts to buy Russian S-400 air defence systems. Indonesia is also at risk over its contract for Su-35 deliveries. Unless these states receive a waiver from the US Treasury, they could be sanctioned under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.