WARSAW (Sputnik) — Poland has received a proposal by Raython, the US manufacturer of Patriot missile defense systems, according to which the first Patriot battery might be delivered there as early as 2019, according to Antoni Macierewicz, the minister of national defense.
"Under this proposal, the first battery will be delivered soon, but for the same price, and then will be modernized for the same price," Macierewicz has said in an interview to Rzeczpospolita newspaper, adding that in this case the first shipment will be expected in 2019.
According to the Polish official, the decision on the proposal would be taken within one month.
Patriot is a long-range, all-altitude, air defense system capable of countering tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and advanced aircraft. The United States supplies Patriot systems to a number of its allies, including Germany, Israel, Japan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The upcoming supplies come in the wake of NATO boosting its presence in Eastern Europe under the pretext of an alleged "Russian threat," a claim strongly denied by Moscow, amid the Ukrainian internal conflict that erupted in 2014 following violent clashes in Kiev that resulted in a coup.
