The Bundeswehr will begin the relocation of Patriot air defence systems into Poland’s territory in the coming days following a deal that was agreed upon by Berlin and Warsaw last month.
The deployment of the Patriots will begin “in the coming days,” as reported by DPA. The first soldiers set out from Bad Suelze, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on Monday.
“In sum, three batteries will protect the critical infrastructure of the NATO ally (Poland) in the region near the Ukrainian border,” DPA reported.
MIM-104 Patriot is a surface-to-air missile (SAM) system used by the United States and several other countries. Developed in the 1960s, it was originally produced by Raytheon. Over the years, the system evaluated and the versions currently used by different countries differ from each other.
The German offer to deploy Patriots in Poland was made after a missile explosion in Przewodów near the Polish border with Ukraine, which early investigations suggest was a stray Ukrainian air defence rocket.
The offer led to a minor diplomatic crisis between Berlin and Warsaw since the Polish government preferred the batteries to be deployed in Ukraine. The German Defence Ministry rejected the proposal, pointing out that the weapons are a part of an internal NATO air defence system and cannot be used outside the Alliance.
Additionally, Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak accused his German counterpart Christine Lambrecht of breaking the confidentiality of the negotiations of the deployment of Patriots by informing the media of the offer made by Berlin in spite of Poland’s request not to reveal the details until the deal was reached.
(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | EURACTIV.pl)
Source: euractiv.com
