NATO said Wednesday that its procurement division will support a group of member states, including Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Spain, with a contract to purchase up to 1,000 PATRIOT anti-aircraft missiles. European production of anti-aircraft missiles is to be increased, Reuters reported.
„The consolidated multinational procurement, in the spirit of the European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI), offers economies of scale and supports the expansion of production capacity for new GEM-T missiles to meet increasing demand”, NATO spokesman said in a statement.
Importantly, increasing the production of anti-aircraft missiles is also particularly critical for Ukraine’s air defense, which defends itself against attacks by Russian missiles and drones.
According to the Polish Press Agency, the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell held talks with Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, where they discussed increasing military assistance to Ukraine, including the supply of missiles for PATRIOT systems.
According to Borrell, during the conversation they „shared growing concerns about the intensification of Russian air attacks on civilian infrastructure of Ukraine.” „We agreed on the need to strengthen our military support for Ukraine, including long-range missiles and anti-aircraft missiles,” the EU foreign policy chief wrote on Twitter.
It should be mentioned that the adviser to the head of the Presidential Office of Ukraine Mikhail Podolak said that the country had a relatively small number of missiles with a range of up to 1,000 km, which prevents Ukrainian forces from attacking the aggressor behind the front line. In November, the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Dmitry Kuleba said that the European Union would not implement the plan to provide Ukraine with one million artillery shells by March 2024. These words were confirmed by Josep Borrell and the German Ministry of Defense.
Reuters / Polish Press Agency / Jacek Perzyński