The Netherlands will receive a new Patriot air defense missile system to replace the one that was effectively transferred to Ukraine, as in 2024 the country handed over the "core" of the missile system, and prior to that, provided part of the system in collaboration with Germany. Raytheon announced the receipt of the order for the production of the system, stating that the deal is valued at $529 million.
For this amount, the Netherlands is expected to receive one fire unit, which includes radar, launchers, command and control points, as well as other additional equipment. The timelines for the execution of the works are not disclosed.
However, the announced price raises questions, as other contracts explicitly state that Patriot costs around $1 billion. At the same time, there is nothing unusual about this. Firstly, when the U.S. trades in arms, contracts are signed by the U.S. government, which acts as the customer for weapons manufacturers. Therefore, Raytheon reported the price of the contract with the U.S. government. Although in this particular case, they may be identical.
Secondly, the Patriot contract may or may not include missiles. If we are talking about the MSE interceptors, that is not Raytheon's responsibility, but rather Lockheed Martin's. The U.S. Army contracts them at a price of $5.17 million per unit. However, orders for GEM-T missiles, which are necessary for intercepting aerodynamic targets, might already be made in Europe at the new facilities of COMLOG, which were established in November 2024 with plans to open in September 2026.
Thirdly, the price heavily depends on the composition of the missile system itself, or, using Western terminology - fire unit. For example, a contract with Sweden, which ordered 4 Patriot batteries for $1.3 billion, serves as an illustration. However, it includes only three launchers in each battery and a total stock of 200 missiles. Naturally, the price for a set with 8 launchers, which entails a larger number of support vehicles, will be higher.
Additionally, it is now important to consider the configuration of the missile system, which can be equipped with the new LTAMDS radar, which eliminates the main drawback of the Patriot. However, the cost could again vary significantly from the traditional AN/MPQ-53.