Multinational procurement of Patriot missiles to enhance air defense
NATO supports a coalition of Allies to procure up to 1,000 Patriot missiles to strengthen their air defense.
Corina Cristea, 04.01.2024, 14:00
NATO has announced that its Support and Procurement Agency will support a coalition of Allies, including Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Spain to procure up to 1,000 Patriot air defense missiles. The consolidated multinational procurement, in the spirit of the European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI), offers economies of scale and supports the expansion of production capacity for new GEM-T missiles to meet increasing demand, NATO said in a statement. The $5.5 billion contract has been awarded to COMLOG, a joint venture between an American company and a German company, and the large volume of the order will support the set up of a production facility for Patriot missiles in Germany. Patriot missiles cost around $4 million each, but the contract also covers the supply of spare parts and maintenance.
The NATO Support and Procurement Agency stated that this purchase aims to strengthen the deterrent posture of the allies in the context in which Russia is intensifying its air attacks on Ukraine. “Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian civilians, cities and towns show how important modern air defense is. (…) Scaling up ammunition production is key for Ukraines security and for ours, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement.
NATO provides Ukraine with only non-lethal support, but members of the organization send arms and ammunition to Kyiv individually or collectively. The United States and Germany have already delivered Patriot missiles to Ukraine to help counter Russian attacks on its cities and infrastructure, and those deliveries have partially depleted stocks. The US was even forced to ask other countries, including Japan, to help rebuild them. Following this request, in the second half of December, Japan relaxed its arms export restrictions, for the first time in the last decade, the historic decision of the Japanese authorities allowing the sale of Patriot air defense systems to the United States.
Washington, in turn, will be able to deliver more such systems to Ukraine. The Patriot program is currently the most expensive endowment program of the Romanian Army. Romania currently has four such systems, out of the seven ordered, for which it will pay a total of almost 4 billion dollars. Patriot missiles can fly at 5,000 kilometers per hour and can hit drones, helicopters, planes, and cruise missiles. The Romanian Army, which, starting from 2023, receives 2.5% of the GDP, will have 200 such missiles, worth 1 billion euros, with the delivery to be made gradually. (EE)
