The Future of European Integrated Air and Missile Defence
photo: © Raytheon
The Patriot partnership of 17 countries is a strong and attractive community
Interview with Bruce R. Eggers, Raytheon’s Business Development Director for German Integrated Air and Missile Defense, Andover, Massachusetts
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he European: Mr Eggers, Germany recently made the decision to upgrade its Patriot air and missile defence system to the most modern configuration currently available – Configuration 3+. Why is that so significant for NATO? Bruce R. Eggers: Germany, the Netherlands, as well as five other European nations and the US, entrust Europe’s Integrated Air and Missile Defence to Patriot. By upgrading to Configuration 3+, Germany has the latest updates to address evolving threats, to remain technological compatible and interoperable with its allies for many years to come.
The European: Can Patriot handle the next generation of threats? Bruce R. Eggers: Yes. We are offering Germany our Next Generation Patriot solution package, which addresses advan ced threats with a cutting-edge, 360-degree radar that has undergone more than 3,000 hours of testing. Commanders also have operational flexibility due to Patriot’s missile mix of GEM-T interceptors and the PAC-3 MSE interceptor. Of course, those interceptors are already integrated into Patriot Configuration 3+. The European: And what about the IRIS-T SL option as an additional capability? Bruce R. Eggers: We have the additional capability to integrate IRIS-T SL, subject to the permission of both the German and US governments. Together with Rheinmetall’s solution, all of
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this fits into a seamless architecture that can cover Germany’s ground-based air defence needs. The European: You see me hesitating, but let me provoke: Is my feeling right that you are convinced that Next Generation Patriot is a German solution because you have a partnership with Rheinmetall? Bruce R. Eggers: Absolutely. Raytheon has a global strategic partnership with Rheinmetall, and they are integral to our solution. We talked about the opportunity to integrate IRIS-T SL already. Beyond that, and with the permission of the US and German governments, we could potentially incorporate a German medium-range radar and German made command, control and communications. In Germany, it is a single solution that combines the current working system Patriot by filling the gap against short range attacks and thus protecting the own military forces. The European: And your Patriot-partner MBDA? Bruce R. Eggers: I’d also point out that MBDA currently does work on German Patriots, and the Patriots of other partners. The European: What is the workshare e.g. for your German partner MBDA? Bruce R. Eggers: We have a joint venture with COMLOG. They are responsible for two main servicing and maintenance tasks for Patriot. First, they do all the missile upgrade work not only