Defense News:
The Polish government intends to finalize an agreement with the US government by the end of the year to buy the Raytheon-made Patriot air-and-missile defense system, the Polish defense minister said.
The initial agreement will cover the sale of two Patriot systems, Antoni Macierewicz told Defense News in a exclusive July 22 interview. And Poland will get over 50 percent of the work-share to build Patriot, something the country was adamant about when defining its terms.
Poland’s leading state-run defense group PGZ signed a letter of intent with Raytheon to cooperate on Wisla, paving the way for the country’s acquisition of Patriot missiles, PGZ said in a statement earlier this month.
PGZ was set up in 2013 to consolidate Poland’s fragmented state-owned defense industry. The Polish Ministry of Treasury remains the main shareholder of PGZ, but the group is subordinated to the country’s Ministry of Defense.
Over the past year, Poland has gone back and forth on its decision to procure a medium-range air-and-missile defense system that would provide 360-degree protection.
Poland announced in the spring of 2015 that it chose the Patriot system for its new missile defense program called Wisla. The plan was to buy two Patriot systems in the current configuration, followed by next-generation systems that include the AESA GaN radar and an open architecture that would allow a variety of interceptors to plug into the system. The two initial Patriot systems would then be retrofitted with next-generation capabilities.
Also in the Wisla competition were Lockheed Martin’s Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), Israel’s David’s Sling and a French consortium’s offering. MEADS and David’s Sling were taken out of the running because they are still in development. However Germany plans to sign an agreement with Lockheed and MBDA Deutschland to finish MEADS development.
