Poland ready to establish joint Patriot production with Ukraine

Poland has the production capacity and readiness to begin manufacturing PAC-3 interceptor missiles for Patriot systems on its territory and is ready to cooperate with Ukraine in this area.

Source: Paweł Zalewski, Polish Deputy Minister of National Defence

Details: Poland may consider joint production of interceptors for Patriot air defence systems together with Ukraine.

"Poland is one of the countries that have declared the capability and readiness to produce PAC-3 in Poland… We treat production of PAK-3 effectors in Europe as something important, strengthening European security," Zalewski said, responding to a question from a European Pravda correspondent in Brussels on 27 August, on the sidelines of a NATO North Atlantic Council meeting attended by US Deputy Secretary of Defence Elbridge Colby.

He added that deploying the production of PAC-3 interceptors for Patriot systems outside the United States is also important for the US, since there is a fairly obvious deficit in production capacity in the industrial sphere.

"And we don't want to compete, neither with Ukrainians nor with Germans, nor with anybody else. So if it would be possible to create a kind of cooperation between the firms, the countries, that's okay," the Polish minister stressed, responding to a European Pravda question.

He added that this production "should be supporting not only NATO, but also Ukraine, maybe mainly Ukraine".

"What is important is that we have our capacities, we have competences, we would like to engage in this production, and we would like to use it. And if it turns out it will be with Ukrainians or with Germans or with Ukrainians and Germans, that's okay, that's good. So we don't want to compete, we want to strengthen our security," Paweł Zalewski stressed.

According to Zalewski, Poland is currently in close contact with Patriot manufacturer Lockheed Martin and the American administration on this issue.

"And we are waiting for, on one hand, industrial decisions, but on the other hand, we are waiting for political decisions," the Polish official added.

Background:

• In July, Poland's Ministry of Defence officially confirmed that Poland had transferred PAC-3 missiles, designed for Patriot systems, to Ukraine several months earlier. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that the package contained five missiles.
• Later, following an incident involving a Russian missile landing in Poland, Tusk announced that Warsaw would consider the possibility of transferring additional Patriot air defence system missiles to Ukraine in the near future.
• On 13 August, Polish Deputy Defence Minister Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka stated that a decision on transferring additional Patriot system missiles to Ukraine was already being prepared.

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