Parts for US Patriot missiles to be produced in Poland

Polish and American companies have launched the construction of a plant in eastern Poland which will produce missile parts for a US Patriot air defence system bought by Warsaw.

A US Patriot missile is fired at a shooting range in South Korea.

Photo: EPA/YONHAP

Poland in 2018 signed what officials described as a historic deal to buy an American Patriot system for USD 4.75 billion. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at the time that the first batch of Patriot systems will reach Poland in 2022, and the next ones in 2024.

The production of the system’s missile parts in a planned facility in Dęblin, eastern Poland, is part of an offset deal signed in March 2019 by the state-owned Polish Armaments Group (PGZ) and American defence giant Lockheed Martin.

The new, 3,000-square-metre plant is set to employ around 20 workers, Polish state news agency PAP reported.

Lockheed Martin, which also developed F-16 fighter jets and the HIMARS missile artillery rocket system, has been a partner of Poland’s Defence Ministry since 1997, PAP reported.

(jh/pk)

Source: PAP