A few months after being selected as one of the two finalists for Poland’s medium-range missile defense system, Raytheon’s Patriot missile system is getting an extensive audition by being included in recent drills involving Poland and the U.S. Army. And it’s all part of the Pentagon’s active involvement in getting Poland intimately familiar with the system as the competition nears its conclusion, one defense official told Congress recently.
The Pentagon plans to put an Aegis Ashore site in Poland, which will be completed by 2018, and the key European ally is also considering selecting Patriot in what would be a very sizable award, Principal Deputy Defense Undersecretary for Policy Brian McKeon told lawmakers during a March 25 hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Asked by Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) about whether Poland had asked for any additional capabilities other than Aegis Ashore, McKeon responded that officials had inquired about the Patriot as they look to invest upwards of $10 billion into integrated air and missile defense.
“They’re going to be making that decision in the near future, and we’ve been talking to them very actively,” McKeon said. “We don’t have a lot of spares in the inventory, but we have talked to them about having some exercises and occasional rotations of Patriots into Poland. And in fact, there’s an exercise going on this month in Poland with … Patriot.”
The Patriot will be competing with EUROSAM Consortium’s SAMP/T offering after the MEADS International industry team was eliminated last summer.
