Germany has offered Warsaw the Patriot missile defense system to help it secure its airspace.
This was announced by Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht on Sunday, and the decision follows the downing of a missile in Poland last week.
The German government had already said it would offer its neighbor further help in aerial “surveillance” with German Eurofighters after the incident, which initially raised fears that the war in Ukraine could spill over the border.
“We have provided support to Poland in securing the airspace – with our Eurofighters and Patriot air defense systems,” said Lambrecht.
The missile that hit Poland last week, killing two people, appears to have been fired by Ukraine’s air defenses and not a Russian strike, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said.
Ground-based air defense systems like Raytheon’s Patriot are built to “intercept” incoming missiles.
Otherwise, NATO has made moves to strengthen air defenses in Eastern Europe since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February.
More than a dozen NATO allies led by Germany in October launched an initiative to jointly buy air defense systems for several layers of threats, including the Patriot.
