WARSAW — A maintenance centre for Lockheed Martin-made Patriot interceptor missiles will be established in Poland, Deputy Defence Minister Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
Source: Reuters, Warsaw, Oct 27, 2026 — Poland to host European Patriot maintenance centre
The centre in Poland will be the only one outside the United States, Sobkowiak-Czarnecka said. Four countries competed for the European location — Poland, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway — she wrote on X, calling the result the outcome of many months of negotiations.
She later told reporters the investment would be worth around 1 billion zlotys ($253.41 million) and would take a dozen or so months to become operational. Locating the centre in Europe will allow quicker servicing than before, when missiles had to be sent to the US.
1 billion zlotys is about $253 million — yaani roughly 25.3 crore US dollars, or more than ₹2,100 crore at recent rates.
Lockheed Martin confirmed the plan separately. Jay Pitman, president of Lockheed Martin International, told Rapporteur the facility would bring needed operational readiness to Europe and could shave many months off waiting times, because older PAC-3 missiles currently need to be checked and upgraded in the US.
Source: Rapporteur — Lockheed to open Patriot missile maintenance facility in Poland
Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have strained stocks of air-defence interceptor missiles and caused delivery delays, Reuters noted, prompting European countries to seek maintenance and production capabilities closer to home. Rapporteur reported the plan was first announced on the margins of the NATO summit in Ankara in July.