Bahrain and U.S. sign agreement for Patriot air defense systems.

Bahrain becomes the 17th country to choose the Patriot system for air and missile defense requirements. The foreign military sale was initially approved on May 3, 2019.

Firing of a MIM-104 Patriot  missile (Picture source: Raytheon)

The Kingdom of Bahrain signed an agreement to purchase Raytheon's combat-proven Patriot air and missile defense system from the U.S. Army, for an estimated cost of $2.478 billion. This letter of offer and acceptance allows the U.S. government to begin contract negotiations with Raytheon for production of an undisclosed quantity of systems and missiles.

"Raytheon's Patriot Integrated Air and Missile Defense System will ensure the Kingdom of Bahrain is well equipped to defend against ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and manned and unmanned aircraft," said Ralph Acaba, president of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. "Patriot is continually modernized, enhanced and upgraded, through this 17-nation community, to ensure it outpaces the evolving threats for years to come." The 17 Patriot Nations are: United States of America, The Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Taiwan, Greece, Spain, Republic of Korea, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Romania, Poland, Sweden, Bahrain.

The prime contractor for the PAC-3 Missile is Lockheed-Martin in Dallas, Texas. The prime contractor for the GEM-T missile is Raytheon Company in Andover, Massachusetts. Implementation of this proposed sale will require approximately 25 U.S. Government and 40 contractor representatives to travel to Bahrain for an extended period for equipment de-processing/fielding, system checkout, training, and technical and logistics support.