German Patriot air defence system units are seen at the Vilnius airport, ahead of a NATO summit, in Vilnius, Lithuania July 10, 2023.
REUTERS/Ints Kalnins/File PhotoBERLIN, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Germany has offered to extend the deployment of three Patriot air defence units in Poland until the end of 2023, the defence ministry in Berlin said on Tuesday.
Ground-based air defence systems such as Raytheon's (RTX.N) Patriot are built to intercept incoming missiles.
They are, however, in short supply across NATO since many allies scaled down the number of air defence units after the Cold War.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent NATO allies scrambling to plug the gaps in their own inventories, while also supplying Kyiv with air defence systems to ward off Russian attacks.
Persons:
Ints, Boris Pistorius, Sabine Siebold, Christoph Steitz, Chris Reese, Alex Richardson
Organizations:
Patriot, NATO, REUTERS, German, Law and Justice, Thomson
Locations:
Vilnius, Lithuania, Germany, Poland, Berlin, Polish, Zamosc, Ukrainian, Ukraine, Przewodow, Warsaw