Polish authorities confirmed on March 28 the signing of an order of nearly $ 5 billion from the Raytheon missile, for 2 batteries of Patriot Pac-3 MSE missiles. The negotiations for this contract had encountered several difficulties, in particular due to the fact that the total invoice greatly exceeded the initial budget of the project. The anti-aircraft and anti-missile batteries are due to enter service in 2022.
Although less publicized than the Caracal contract canceled in 2026 by the Polish authorities, this Patriot contract is also very questionable. In fact, the choice was made on Raytheon even though the price proposed during the call for tenders had no relation to the price of execution of the contract. France and Italy offer the SAMP/T Mamba system using the Aster missile in the same segment as the Patriot. The performance of this system is equal to or even superior to that of the Patriot, which is only capable of offering 360° defense since its latest MSE version.
Unlike the Caracal contract which caused the French authorities to react sharply, and which led to the deterioration of Franco-Polish relations for almost 2 years, Paris seems not to want to react to this contract. It must be said that, at the same time, Naval Group is offering its Scorpene equipped with the MdCN cruise missile to Poland, and has serious chances of success, because it is the only offer to offer a cruise missile fired from submarines.
In any case, Raytheon will have made a real splash in Europe with the Patriot, being selected by the 4 European countries having launched a call for tenders on the subject in recent years: Germany, Sweden, Romania and Poland.
The upcoming arrival of the Aster 30Block1NT missile, specially designed to intercept ballistic missiles with intermediate ranges up to 5000 km, and usable on naval units such as the FTI or PPA frigates, will hopefully reverse the trend in the coming years. come.