Poland signs deal with U.S. to buy $4.6 billion dollar Patriot missile system

Poland signed a deal with the United States to buy the Patriot missile defense system, a move likely to further irritate Russia.

“The United States welcomes today’s signing in Warsaw of an agreement concluding Phase I of Poland’s purchase of the Patriot missile defense system, worth $4.6 billion,” State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. “This includes a brand new, state-of-the-art command and control system for Poland’s air and missile defense. The signing of this agreement will strengthen the security and capabilities of the United States, Poland, and NATO along the Alliance’s Eastern Flank. It reflects Poland’s investment in sharing the burden of collective defense through its ongoing defense modernization program, to which Poland devotes more than 20% of its defense budget, and is the culmination of commitments made in conjunction with the meeting between Presidents Trump and Duda in Warsaw in July 2017.”

Raytheon’s Patriot Missile technology is a defense system consisting of radars, command-and-control technology and multiple types of interceptors, all working together to detect, identify and defeat tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, drones, advanced aircraft and other threats. Patriot is the foundation of integrated air and missile defense for 15 nations.

Nauert concluded saying that the deal “also creates jobs in both the United States and Poland.”

The move will likely further irritate Russia who has had a large number of its intelligence officers evicted from dozens of global nations after the U.K. blamed the Federation for a nerve agent attack on a former spy.