The Netherlands and Ukraine are pressuring Spain to join the “Patriot coalition” and transfer Patriot air defense systems to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

El Pais reported on this.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky conveyed the request to Pedro Sánchez during a meeting at the European Political Community summit in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova.

This issue also became the subject of consultations with Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of Turkey, where the Spanish military deployed a Patriot missiles battalion as part of the NATO mission.

Spain is not the only country from which Ukraine wishes to involve air defense systems. Requests for aircraft and air defense systems were also shared with Sweden, Poland, and Romania. The search also extends outside of Europe, among countries such as the United Arab Emirates.

Spain cannot hand over the planes as it does not have the fighter jets that Ukraine needs, but the Spanish army has three Patriot battalions, purchased second-hand from Germany in 2004 and 2014.

Spanish Patriot air defense systems

The Spanish military currently has three Patriot PAC-2 battalions, with six M901 launchers each (18 in total), which are in service with the Patriot Group of the Marine Corps (Valencia), 73rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment.

Spain’s problem is that one of the three battalions has been deployed at the Turkish Incirlik base since 2015, while the other two are in service with the Marine Corps (Valencia) in the 73rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment and are considered strategic for national defense.

According to the publication, Spain would be ready to give up the battalio located in Turkey, but Erdoğan made it clear: he is interested in these SAMs continuing to work in his country even after December 31 of this year, when the current commitments expire.

The presence of the Patriot in Turkey has long been out of line with military necessity, as the risk of a missile strike has vanished with the end of the civil war in Syria. However, this Patriot has political significance as part of NATO’s demonstration of solidarity with Turkey. Spain remains the only country that supports this allied mission.

In addition, both of the Spanish Patriot battalions have already reached their end of service life and must be decommissioned unless they are upgraded.

The Ministry of Defense has a €1.4 billion program to overhaul and upgrade both battalions from the PAC-2 version to the PAC-3. The latter should provide them with the ability to intercept ballistic missiles. Spain is currently awaiting approval from the United States government for these operations.