Patriot Staying Put

The United States will continue to provide two Patriot Air and Missile Defense Systems to Turkey for up to one additional year in order to bolster air defense systems on the Turkish-Syrian border, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said today during a meeting with Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

The Patriot batteries were deployed earlier this year along the border as rebel forces continue to fight against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime and will remain under NATO command and control, according a Defense Department-issued summary of the meeting held at the Pentagon on the U.S-Turkey bilateral relationship.

"This renewal of the Patriot deployment is and will remain defensive only and represents a concrete demonstration of alliance solidarity and resolve," the summary notes.

The Turkish government surprised the United States and its allies last month by choosing to buy a Chinese air and missile defense system from China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp. over a Raytheon and Lockheed Martin-made Patriot system with Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles and other offerings from Europe and Russia.

The deal -- worth about $3.4 billion -- is not final but is expected to go through within the next six months, according to a Nov. 14 report from Agence France Presse in Istanbul.

The choice to go with a Chinese missile has stirred the pot as the company is under U.S. sanctions for violations of the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act and raises issues over NATO interoperability.

"From a technology point of view, it's extremely difficult for China and Russia to offer NATO interoperability. Both the European and the U.S. solutions can potentially offer NATO interoperability," Mike Trotsky, Lockheed Martin's vice president for air and missile defense, told InsideDefense.com in September. Additionally, political issues surface in considering China and Russian offerings because information on the European Phased Adaptive Approach to missile defense among NATO members is classified, Trotsky added. Turkey is host to a land-based early warning AN/TPY-2 radar near the city of Kurecik as part of the EPAA.