Iohannis announces, after the meeting with Biden, that Romania could cede a Patriot system to Ukraine: “Let’s see what we can get in return”

Klaus Iohannis announced on Tuesday evening, after the meeting at the White House with American President Joe Biden, that Romania is considering giving up one of its Patriot systems to Ukraine, provided that it receives something else in return. It is not about the anti-aircraft system already installed and operational, but one of the expected ones, which is to come to the country, added the president of Romania.

Ukraine’s main problem at the moment is securing its airspace. Russia took advantage of the US blockade, which stopped providing military support for 7 months, and destroyed Ukrainian energy infrastructure, also massively bombing cities such as Kharkiv.

In the European Union, the ranks have closed and solutions are being sought for the countries that have Patriot anti-aircraft systems to donate what they have to the Kiev army. Germany will donate one of its systems, and Spain will give missiles. Now, Romania could be another country donating one of the Patriot systems to defend Ukraine. President Iohannis let it be understood that Bucharest is willing to make this effort, but needs to receive something else in return, especially since Romania is a border country, very close to the aggressor Russia.

“I think we will find a solution. It is a single Patriot system. It is a functional one that will remain in Romania, the others are in advanced phases of operationalization and we were talking about one of them“

At the end of the meeting with Joe Biden, Iohannis declared: “There is obviously a need for air defense systems, so in recent weeks it’s been an intense discussion. Romania has these systems. We were asked too. President Biden mentioned it at our meeting and I said I’m open to talking. This means that we must discuss in the CSAT to see what we can give and what we can receive in return, because it is not acceptable for Romania to remain without. (…) I think we will find a solution. It is a single Patriot system. Believe me, I know more details, but yes, there is a functional one that will remain in Romania, the others are in advanced phases of operationalization and we were talking about one of them. (…) The joint priority of the EU and the US is not to allow Russia to win this war”.

Romania bought 7 new, high-performance Patriot anti-aircraft systems, worth 3.9 billion dollars. One of these officially entered service with the armed forces in 2020 and became fully operational in 2021. The second was delivered in 2022, with testing and acceptance taking place in December of the same year.

Systems three and four were delivered starting in 2022 and received in 2023.
There are three more Patriot systems to be received, most likely one of them will be transferred to Ukraine, if CSAT reaches this decision.

Romania bought the Patriot systems in the latest configuration available, i.e. 3+, along with hundreds of interceptor missiles.

The Patriot systems have proven again, in Ukraine, the most effective means of air defense against conventional weapons. As long as they had interceptor missiles, these systems closed Ukrainian airspace to Russian forces. To everyone’s utter surprise, the adapted Patriot systems were able to shoot down even the much-vaunted Russian Kinjal hypersonic missiles, which were thought to be impossible to intercept.