Spanish army deploys Patriot air defense missile systems in Turkey to help protect Turkish territory.

Spanish Patriots, which will be positioned at Incirlik military base in southern Adana province within NATO task in place of Netherland’s missile batteries that have accomplished 2 years task against threats from Syria.

A total of 150 Spanish soldiers are involved in this NATO operation. Six Patriot missile batteries are now operating under NATO command and control in southern Turkey. The Alliance rapidly deployed these assets in order to augment Turkey's air defence capabilities to defend the population and territory of Turkey.

Since January 2013, NATO’s Patriot deployment has reinforced Turkey’s air defences to help protect Turkey’s territory and citizens against missile attacks from Syria. Germany, the Netherlands and the United States currently provide two Patriot batteries each for the mission, located in Kahramanmaras, Adana and Gaziantep.

Two Dutch batteries are operating in Adana, two German batteries are in Kahramanmaras and two batteries from the United States are located in Gaziantep. Together, these Patriot batteries are actively defending 3.5 million people in Turkey against missile attacks.

This deployment is defensive only and represents a concrete demonstration of Alliance solidarity and resolve.

The MIM-104 Patriot is a surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, the primary of its kind used by the United States Army and several allied nations. Patriot uses an advanced aerial interceptor missile and high performance radar systems. The Patriot missile has a range of 70 km, and can flight at a maximum speed of Mach 3.