Deputy State Assets Minister Konrad Gołota told Polish Radio 24 that Warsaw wants a service centre for PAC-3 missiles and, eventually, to produce them. Poland, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden would share the project.
Patriot missiles are made only in the United States, apart from a small, closely supervised line in Japan.
“The first step, so that the missiles we already have do not have to be sent across the ocean, is to build a ‘factory’ in Europe”, Gołota said.
Moving from servicing to production would require expanding existing facilities, he said. That could happen in a year or two, but depends on the US administration and on boosting American output, as the missiles are in short supply.
Gołota said Poland’s state-owned defence group PGZ already makes some Patriot components, some of them as the world’s only producer, and has been through lengthy certification.
“We know what procedures the Americans work to with these missiles. So we have the competence”, he said.
He acknowledged Germany’s defence industry is highly developed, but argued geography favours Poland.
“We defend NATO’s eastern flank and the European Union’s external border”, he said. “The more competence is located here in Poland, paradoxically, the safer the whole of NATO will be”.
Washington has not said where the service centre will be, Gołota said, though he was optimistic after talks there. He expects final decisions before the end of the year.
The outcome will not be winner-takes-all, he added. Whichever country loses out on the largest elements will still get some servicing and modernisation work.
Gołota declined to name Polish sites. “We are talking in great detail, but it is absolutely too early to speak about it”, he said.
(jh)
Source: Polish Radio 24