US and Japan to increase production of Patriot missiles

The United States and Japan will increase the production of MIM-104 missiles for Patriot air defense systems.

The US Department of Defense reported on this.

During a meeting of officials from the governments and ministries of defense of Japan and the United States, the parties agreed to help increase the production of anti-aircraft missiles for the Patriot air defense system.

As more countries need American air defense systems and missiles for them, Japan and the United States will join forces to implement their own plans.

First of all, the countries will expand the production of missiles in the MIM-104F MSE version, designed to intercept ballistic missiles.

In addition, the U.S. side will also help expand the production of AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles, which are used by U.S. aircraft and NASAMS air defense systems.

Both types of missiles are currently the most important components for Ukraine’s air defense, which is why the issue of accelerating their production is so acute.

Japan plays an important role in providing Ukraine with MIM-104 anti-aircraft missiles. The country supplies these missiles to the United States, after which the United States transfers missiles to Ukraine from its own stockpile.

In addition, the U.S. government has elevated Ukraine to the highest priority recipient of U.S. anti-aircraft missiles. Ukraine will receive the first missiles under this priority allocation this summer. In general, this trend of transferring anti-aircraft missiles will continue for 16 months.

Also, as part of its expansion of support and production of MIM-104 missiles, the United States has identified European countries, including Spain, Germany, and Romania, that will produce missiles and spare parts.

The Spanish company Grupo Oesia plans to localize the production of elements for PAC-3 MSE missiles used by Patriot anti-aircraft systems.

At the same time, Romania has begun to deploy production of SkyCeptor interceptor missiles for Patriot air and missile defense systems.