NATO announced that has purchased 1,000 Patriot missiles to prolong the war in Ukraine. The total purchase amounts to $5.5 billion as each missile costs around $4 million (batteries not included). NATO is bypassing the wishes of independent nations who wished to cease funding the war.
Defense contractors are celebrating this endless war. Raytheon, a US defense contractor, designed these surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems in 1969. The first missile was produced in 1976, deployed in 1984, but there was a lack of demand during times of peace. Boeing and Lockheed Martin have helped Raytheon redesign these weapons into undetectable killing machines. The US Army only has 1,100 Patriot launchers, and the production rate has been about 500 annually. One thousand Patriot missiles is a tall order.
(Sebastian Apel/U.S. Department of Defense, via AP)
It is such a tall order that they are now opening a new manufacturing plant in Germany. “Europe will produce 1,000 Patriot air defence missiles itself. This shows that European cooperation ensures concrete successes,” Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren touted. NATO realizes that there will be an increased need for these weapons in the coming years. Moving production to Germany eliminates the reliance on American manufacturing, especially in the event of a Trump victory this November.
Zelensky was the keynote speaker at the annual Future Force Capabilities Conference and Exhibition hosted by the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) in 2022. Boeing Defense, Space & Security; L3Harris Technologies; Raytheon Technologies; BAE Systems; Lockheed Martin Corporation; Huntington Ingalls Industries; General Dynamics; and Northrop Grumman were all in attendance. The US government has deemed NDIA a nonprofit organization, but it blatantly lobbies for war.
NATO has done everything possible to trigger Russia and escalate the war in favor of the Neocons and the military-industrial complex. The Neocons simply want to see the demise of Russia and China for their Communist pasts, and the military-industrial complex is bankrolling on mass murder. Building a facility in Germany is NATO’s way of telling Russia that they have not given up on their dreams for World War III even if independent national governments wish to cease funding the war.
