WASHINGTON, the USA (BulgarianMilitary.com), 3 August 2018, Editor: Galina Zdravkova, Photo credit: Raytheon / The combat-proven Patriot is the world’s most advanced air and missile defence system.

Sweden will acquire Raytheon’s Patriot air and missile defence systems. The deal has been approved by the Swedish government, learned BulgarianMilitary.com

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On 2nd August FMV announced that the government has authorized it to undertake the needed steps for the signing of an agreement with the USA for the purchase of four Patriot systems. FMV stands for the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration. It is a civil authority that assists Sweden with defence matters by procuring equipment and services for the Swedish Armed Forces.

The decision of the Swedish government for the purchase of Patriot defence systems was announced last year in November. The Raytheon’s defence system was preferred to the French consortium Eurosam’s SAMP/T. Then it was considered that the agreement would be at the amount of approximately $1.2 billion.

The possible foreign military sale to Sweden was approved by the U.S. State Department in February 2018 for an estimated amount of $3.2 billion.

However, due to tight budget constraints for the defence sector in Sweden, opposition leaders questioned the government’s capability to grant sufficient funds for covering the procurement of the Patriot system.

Therefore, opposition leaders offered an alternative solution for funding of the Patriot deal through a special allocation separate from the main defence budget. It is not known yet if this offer will be considered or the base defence budget will be used for covering the Patriot deal costs.

It is expected the Raytheon’s Patriot air and missile defence systems to be delivered to two Swedish air defence battalions before 2025.

The Raytheon’s Patriot is a missile defence system involving radars, command-and-control technology and multiple types of interceptors that work together to detect, identify and defeat threats.

Read more: Patriot PAC-3 MSE Air Defense Missile System Breaks The Distance Record

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