Poland has received preliminary authorization from the U.S. State Department to establish production of Patriot air defense missiles at facilities within Poland's defense industrial base. The agreement was reached during a Polish delegation's visit to the United States, meaning PAC-3 missile production could ultimately be established in close proximity to Ukraine.
This was announced by Polish Deputy Minister of Defense Cezary Tomczyk on TVN24. He explained that the United States was initially skeptical about the idea of producing PAC-3 interceptors informally reported to be the PAC-3 MSE variant in Poland, but that the meeting resulted in preliminary authorization for such cooperation. Tomczyk described it as the establishment of a consortium to implement the project.
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From Defense Express's perspective, despite the Americans' initial reluctance, the cooperation is actually quite logical and flows from two factors: Poland's own need for this munition, and the shortage of Patriot interceptors resulting from their use by the United States and allies during combat operations in iran.
As a reminder, in 2018 Poland ordered, under its Wisła program, two enhanced-composition Patriot batteries each with 8 launchers and 2 radars along with 208 PAC-3 MSE missiles for $4.75 billion to strengthen its air defenses. In 2023, a further order was placed for 48 launchers (6 enhanced batteries), 12 LTAMDS radars, and 644 PAC-3 MSE missiles for a total of $15 billion.
The United States, for its part, is seeking to increase MSE production by more than threefold, with plans to reach 2,000 missiles per year over a seven-year period — compared to 620 produced last year and a target of 750 for the coming year. Reaching 2,000 units annually is no simple task, giving Washington its own incentive to engage with Poland on this.
Poland is already involved in the production of individual Patriot components. Last year, for example, it emerged that the first batch of PAC-3 MSE launch tubes had been manufactured at the Wojskowe Zakłady Lotnicze No. 1 (WZL 1) facility.
Under a separate agreement with Raytheon Technologies, Patriot launcher production was also established at Poland's Huta Stalowa Wola (HSW). A number of other Polish companies are similarly involved in component production for the Patriot system.
Defense Express previously reported that Poland may have quietly transferred PAC-3 MSE anti-ballistic missiles to Ukraine for the first time.
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