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Intense arrangements are being made for the Patriot air defence system from Germany to be deployed at a specified location in Poland, a deputy minister of defence said on Friday.
Wojciech Skurkiewicz told Polish Radio One that the Patriot anti-aircraft systems offered by Germany could begin operating on Polish territory “at the beginning of next year.” He added: “It’s a matter of two to three months maximum.”
Site inspections and meetings between “both Polish and German military officials,” had already taken place in Poland, the deputy defence minister pointed out. “Deputy Prime Minister (Defence Minister as well – ed.) Mariusz Blaszczak is in steady contact with German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht and they are talking.”
Skurkiewicz noted that the most important issue for the Polish side was that the missile batteries be “linked with Poland’s defence system” and added that he could not imagine the German sets functioning independently from Polish weaponry.
The German government offered the US-made Patriots to Warsaw after a stray missile, believed to be Ukrainian, crashed to earth in eastern Poland last month, killing two.
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