Centrum Stosunków Międzynarodowych - 10 September 2016: Poland’s deal to buy US Patriot missile defence systems

Poland has announced it will seek US government green light to buy Patriot missile defence systems from American company Raytheon. Warsaw has already ordered the Patriot system, defence minister Antoni Macierewicz said on Tuesday without providing the total value of the deal. The announcement looked like a confirmation of Poland's will to move ahead despite no formal letter of request has been delivered to the US government so far. Poland has agreed to buy eight Patriot air missile defence systems from Raytheon, which beat off competition from Lockheed and Thales to seal the contract.

Poland had already selected Raytheon last year but the country's new government had ordered a selection review before officially agreeing to a deal, which was previously pegged at 5.6 billion dollars (Financial Times).

"Poland's formal request is an important milestone toward becoming the sixth Nato Patriot country and the 14th Patriot partner nation" Wes Kremer, the president of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, said in a statement. Raytheon said in its statement it had already signed eight contracts and more than 30 letters of intent with Polish companies. The first two Patriot batteries, which are designed to shoot down aircraft and missiles will be delivered by 2019.

Washington had lobbied heavily for Poland to choose the Raytheon system. Neighbouring Germany is negotiating to buy the rival MEADS system developed by Lockheed and European defence companies

The missile defence tender is central to Warsaw's large-scale military modernization programme in response to the Ukraine crisis and Russia's renewed assertiveness in the region, with Moscow firmly objecting to plans to station systems in Europe.

President Barack Obama previously shelved the Bush plan for missile defence in Europe, arguing a defence against missiles from Iran was more important. The WikiLeaks diplomatic cables subsequently revealed that Poland had been told a system ostensibly aimed at Iran could be adapted to guard against "missiles coming from elsewhere", which was taken to mean Russia.