Poland will host a facility to service Lockheed Martin’s Patriot interceptor missiles, making it the sole site of its kind beyond U.S. borders, Deputy Defence Minister Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka said Tuesday.
Sobkowiak-Czarnecka said the project is valued at about 1 billion zlotys ($253 million) and should begin operating in about a year. In a post on X, she said Poland had been selected over Germany, the Netherlands and Norway, the other countries that sought the European location.
The U.S. Department of Defense said the plan would bring U.S. and European industry together. It named Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden as leaders in supply-chain coordination, and said a regional repair site could help return missiles to service sooner and reinforce supply routes.
Reuters reported that fighting in Ukraine and the Middle East has contributed to tight air-defense interceptor inventories and delivery delays, prompting governments to seek nearby maintenance and production capacity.
Separately, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) in an interview published Oct. 19 that Poland had no Patriot interceptors to spare for Ukraine.
