Germany offered Warsaw the Patriot missile defense system to help secure its airspace following a stray rocket crash in Poland last week. Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht spoke to a newspaper on Sunday (20 November).
After the incident, the German government stated that it would continue to help its neighbour in air policing with German Eurofighters. This initially raised concerns about the possibility of a spillover from the conflict in Ukraine.
Lambrecht stated that Poland had offered support to secure airspace with its Eurofighters and Patriot air defense systems.
According to NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, the missile that struck Poland last week and killed two people appeared to have been fired from Ukraine’s air defenses, rather than a Russian strike.
Ground-based air defense systems like Raytheon’s Patriot (RTX.N Patriot) are designed to intercept missiles.
Since Russia’s invasion in February, NATO has taken steps to improve air defenses in eastern Europe. In October, more than 12 NATO allies led Germany launched an initiative for joint procurement of air defense systems for multiple layers of threat including Patriot.
Germany had 36 Patriot units during the Cold War, when it was NATO’s frontline state. Currently, 12 Patriot units are in the German army. Two of them are currently deployed to Slovakia. Source: eureporter.co
