U.S. Soldiers talk after a routine inspection of a Patriot missile battery at a Turkish military base in Gaziantep, Turkey.

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon on Thursday announced that the U.S. will send a Patriot missile battery, radars and roughly 200 support personnel to Saudi Arabia in the wake of the attacks on its oil facilities earlier this month.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper has "approved putting additional forces on prepare to deploy orders," Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman wrote in a statement. "While no decision has been made to deploy these additional forces, they will maintain a heightened state of readiness."

Those additional forces include two Patriot missile artillery batteries and one Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD missile defense system.

THAAD, one of the world's most advanced missile systems, can target incoming missiles and blast them out of the sky. THAAD interceptors, fired from a truck-based launcher, use kinetic energy to deliver "hit to kill" strikes to ballistic threats.

"It is important to note these steps are a demonstration of our commitment to regional partners, and the security and stability in the Middle East. Other countries have called out Iranian misadventures in the region, and we look for them to reinforce Saudi Arabia's defense," Hoffman wrote.