NATO partners send Patriot GEM-T missiles to Germany

Germany will have its stockpile of Patriot GEM-T missiles replenished through funds raised by its NATO allies. The move, which will give Raytheon, the company that makes the missiles, a US$478 million payday, will be co-ordinated by the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA).

The Agency allows for multi-national defence procurement funding across NATO partners. In this case, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway have agreed to foot the bill to re-arm Germany, after Germany’s donation of Patriot missiles to Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion of the country. 

By funding the Raytheon missile procurement, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands are showing their military support of Ukraine through a convenient procurement arrangement within NATO. President Putin of Russia is on record as blaming NATO encroachment for moves like the Ukraine invasion, and the NSPA funding is a way of sending military aid to Ukraine without depleting overall NATO defence resources. 

The GEM-T, the Patriot Advanced Capability 2 missile interceptor, is a key part of the air defence of 19 countries, including eight in Europe. It acts as an interceptor for use against tactical ballistic missiles.

Tom Laliberty, president of land and air defence systems at Raytheon, said that countries like Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway, were “realising the benefits of bundled, multi-national procurement of Patriot missiles through NSPA, including the economies that offer greater affordability and the pre-negotiated contracting framework that shortens the acquisition timeline”. 

Laliberty added: “As a result, not only can we better support the missile inventories for these European partners, we can also strengthen our cooperation, their interoperability and their contribution to an essential NATO mission.”

What makes the NSPA work in collaborations like the German missile restocking is the economies of scale achievable by mass multi-national orders, which would be beyond the reach of individual NATO partners at any given time. 

Stacy A. Cummings, general manager at the NSPA, said the Raytheon missile procurement was an example of “multinational acquisition, support and sustainment, delivering effective and cost-efficient multinational solutions to nations, while reinforcing European industrial capacities”.

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