The Pentagon has denied reports that the U.S. has guaranteed to deploy its own Patriot air defense missiles to defend Polish airspace, pending that country’s receipt of the similar missiles that Warsaw recently selected. Recent reports by AIN and other media were described as rumor and assumptions by a spokesperson for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense. Poland announced its preference for the Raytheon Patriot system over the European SAMP/T system last April.

The spokesperson told AIN,"The U.S. Department of Defense strongly supports Poland's decision to acquire the Patriot system, and looks forward to working closely on its air and missile defense initiatives. Although there are no planned deployments of U.S. Patriots to defend Polish airspace, the U.S. will deploy Patriot to Poland for exercises and training as available."

AIN understands from sources close to the program that the Polish government and the U.S. Army's Lower-Tier Project Office have had discussions in recent weeks about the possibility of deploying spare U.S. Patriot batteries to Poland. The discussions included plans to have these batteries manned by U.S. Army personnel while Polish troops are trained to use the loaned equipment.

In March 2015, the U.S. Army deployed a Patriot battery to Poland from its base in neighboring Germany last March for a week-long joint exercise. According to Associated Press reports on the deployment, Stephen Mull, the U.S. ambassador to Poland, declared that the U.S. is always ready to “defend and stand by Poland’s side in times of need.” Mull was accompanied by Polish defense minister Tomasz Siemoniak, who told reporters that the quick deployment exercise was being conducted in response to “events in the East of Europe."

The government-to-government contract for the supply of eight Patriot batteries to Poland is expected to be concluded in the second half of this year. The country currently operates aging Soviet-era surface-to-air missile systems.