Germany offers US European production sites for Patriot missiles

Germany has offered the United States additional production capacity in Europe for Patriot family surface-to-air guided missiles, including the latest PAC-3 MSE variants, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said.

Pistorius made the comments following a meeting of the Bundestag Defence Committee, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

He said Germany would like PAC-3 and PAC-2 GEM-T missiles to be produced in Europe and that, in theory, production could also include Patriot systems themselves.

However, he stressed that the decision would not be made by Germany, saying Berlin had only made the proposal to the US side.

Pistorius said the issue had also been discussed during his recent talks in Washington. He described it as a matter of intellectual property and said the outcome would depend on whether the Pentagon, the White House and Lockheed Martin were prepared to agree to the proposal.

The minister added that both sides hoped to reach mutually beneficial solutions.

By Aghakazim Guliyev