Poland has no plans to relocate its Patriot air defense systems to the Middle East, Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said Tuesday after reports that the U.S. had informally requested a transfer.
"Our Patriot batteries and their armaments are used to protect Polish airspace and NATO’s eastern flank. Nothing is changing in this regard, and we have no plans to move them anywhere!" Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote on X on Tuesday.
"Our allies are well aware of and understand the importance of our tasks here. Poland’s security is an absolute priority," he added.
The remarks follow a report from Polish daily Rzeczpospolita earlier Tuesday alleging U.S. officials had asked Warsaw to shift one of its Patriot batteries to the Middle East as Iran's retaliatory drone strikes on U.S. Gulf allies put a growing strain on air defense stockpiles.
However, a senior defense official from a NATO country who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Poland had not been singled out by Washington. The U.S. has approached all its NATO allies with two questions on air defense: It is looking for batteries for Ukraine and also for the Middle East, but not the Gulf, to protect NATO installations, the official said.
“There was no special pressure on Poland,” they said. “This was a question that was sent to all allies."
Even the pro-Donald Trump opposition Law and Justice party is balking at the idea of transferring a Patriot battery.
Mariusz Błaszczak, a former defense minister, on Tuesday told reporters: "Poland should not grant approval for such matters."
The U.S. military and Gulf states used 1,285 PAC-3 Patriot missiles in the first 16 days of the war Trump launched against Iran. Poland currently has two Patriot batteries, each with 16 launchers, and has received most of the 200 specialized missiles it ordered from the U.S. in 2019.
Posted by John3262005
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While the article is just talking about Poland, the article says the request is to NATO as a whole
*A senior defense official from a NATO country who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Poland had not been singled out by Washington. The U.S. has approached all its NATO allies with two questions on air defense: It is looking for batteries for Ukraine and also for the Middle East, but not the Gulf, to protect NATO installations, the official said.*
Good.
Aside from anything else, the whole point of missile defence deployment there in the first place was to protect against Iranian missiles.