Five NATO members — the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden — plan to open a European maintenance centre for PAC-3 interceptor missiles used in Patriot air-defence systems, according to an intergovernmental agreement signed on 7 July 2026 on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara.
The deal, concluded during the NATO Defence Industry Forum, was accompanied by a separate memorandum between Lockheed Martin and Rheinmetall to establish the first ATACMS ballistic-missile production line outside the United States. The weapons will be manufactured at a Rheinmetall facility in Unterlüß, northern Germany, a move intended to strengthen Europe's defence-industrial base and reduce reliance on American production capacity.
Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz commented on the Lockheed Martin arrangement during the Ankara forum, underscoring Warsaw's interest in the project.