russiaUkraine war has significantly increased global interest in Patriot air defense systems. Although these systems are manufactured in the U.S., their production involves subcontractors across the world including one located right next door to Ukraine.
Poland's defense industry is now supplying key components for the newest LTAMDS radar, which eliminates one of Patriot's main weaknesses limited coverage, especially against advanced russian Iskander-M missiles.
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Polish company PIT-Radwar has received two subcontracts from Raytheon to produce friend-or-foe identification antenna systems for Patriot. In total, 40 antennas are being produced.
The first batch of four units is destined for Romania as part of an additional U.S. MIM-104 Patriot package likely replacing the battery that Romania transferred to Ukraine earlier this year.
The second, larger contract includes 36 antennas for Poland itself under the second phase of the Wisła project. These will be installed on 12 new LTAMDS radars, making Poland the first export operator of this latest-generation system.
Each LTAMDS radar requires three antennas to ensure full 360-degree coverage a major improvement over earlier Patriot variants that operated with a limited sector of detection. This effectively eliminates one of the systems main drawbacks in modern warfare.
With global demand for air and missile defense systems surging, the entire supply chain not just the prime contractors must scale up production capacity. The LTAMDS radar is still undergoing testing but has recently entered low-rate initial production, while Raytheon is already expanding facilities to produce 12–18 units per year.
Having a Patriot subcontractor so close to Ukraine offers a strategic advantage for maintaining and supporting systems already in service and ensuring timely delivery of replacement units to partners transferring their Patriots as military aid.Involving Ukrainian industry in this process would be valuable though for now, U.S. export control restrictions make that unlikely.
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