A US Patriot missile system in Radom, Poland, in April 2023.
Keystone-SDA
The US Department of Defense is reprioritising the delivery of Patriot systems in order to provide more support to Ukraine.
The Swiss defence ministry was informed on Wednesday, it said in a press release External linkon Thursday. The reason for the delay is that the US again wants to provide Ukraine with more support by enabling countries which have given weapons systems to Kyiv to procure them quickly from Washington.
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Germany, for example, has decided to hand over two more Patriot systems to Ukraine.
Switzerland is also affected by the new prioritisation plans and will receive new products later than planned. The Federal Council has been informed, the defence ministry wrote.
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Switzerland ordered five Patriot systems for long-range ground-based air defense in 2022. Delivery was due to begin in 2027 and be completed in 2028.
According to the defence ministry, it is currently unclear how many systems will be affected and whether the delivery of guided weapons will also be affected. No statement can be made at this time regarding the exact timing and any further impact on Switzerland, it said. Clarifications are currently underway.
A year ago, the US had already informed Switzerland that the Patriot guided missiles in the PAC3 MSE version, which Parliament had decided on in 2023 following the order of the weapon systems, would be delivered to Switzerland later than planned in order to be able to support Ukraine with these guided missiles.
Translated from German by DeepL/dos
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