Washington, 16 August 2024 (TDI): The United States has approved the sale of 600 Patriot air defense missiles to Germany, the Pentagon announced on Thursday.
The agreement would cost an estimated $5 billion (€4.6 billion).
This sale will support the national security and foreign policy of the US by improving the security of a NATO ally that is an important force for economic and political stability in Europe, the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement.
It added that the deal support Berlin’s goal of improving national and territorial defense as well as interoperability with United States and NATO troops.
The State Department has approved the deal, although Congress did not yet sign it.
The Patriot air defense system can be used to combat enemy airplanes and missiles up to 100 kilometers (sixty miles) away at an altitude of 30 kilometers (ninteen miles) high.
Germany had as many as thirty six of the systems during the Cold War, but this number has dropped in subsequent years.
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It donated three systems to Ukraine in the wake of the Russian invasion in February 2022.
Now Berlin’s defense forces are down to just 9 Patriot systems.
Other European nations including Greece, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Poland, and Sweden also have Patriot systems.
