Patriot missiles in $5.5 billion deal: A group of European nations have collectively requested up to 1,000 Patriot air defence missiles in response to a recent escalation of Russian airstrikes targeting prominent Ukrainian cities.
Support for this acquisition, which includes Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and Romania, comes from the NATO Support and Procurement Agency. The government gave COMLOG, a joint venture between MBDA Germany and the American business RTX (formerly known as Raytheon Technologies), a $5.5 billion manufacture and delivery contract for the weapons.
As per the deal, the four countries will purchase up to 1,000 Patriot Guidance Enhanced Missiles collectively, provided that all options are exercised. A delivery schedule was not provided.
The agreement improves Europe’s industrial and military capacities. According to a news release issued on January 3, Thomas Gottschild, managing director of MBDA Germany, “the order volume will enable MBDA to set up a production facility for Patriot missiles in Germany as well as major subcomponent production.”
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Patriot missiles in $5.5 billion deal
Though a NATO release claimed COMLOG will increase the production capacity of tactical Patriot Guidance Enhanced Missiles, or GEM-T, in Europe, Gottschild pointed out that the facility is the only one of its sort for Patriot missiles outside of the United States.
For almost thirty years, the joint partnership between Germany and the United States has been provide logistical support for Patriot Advanced Capability-2 missiles. The U.S. Army and other European Patriot users are its principal clients, along with the NATO Support and Procurement Agency.
Among the options available to clients abroad is GEM-T. In addition to the PAC-3 version, it has the capacity to take out adversary aircraft and tactical ballistic missiles, according to RTX.
According to reports, the Romanian Defence Ministry asked Parliament in December to approve the purchase of 200 PAC-2 GEM-T missiles for use with its own Patriot launchers. If this purchase is connected to the combined billions order is yet unknown.
These directives coincide with a spike in Russian military airstrikes on two of the biggest cities in Ukraine since the year’s beginning.
According to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, Moscow attacked the beleaguered nation with 500 missiles and drone attacks over the course of five days on January 2.
The BBC said that Ukraine has not experienced strikes of this magnitude since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, thus this escalation has been a big cause for alarm.
