Last autumn, the Romanian Ministry of Defense officially announced the transfer of a Patriot missile defense battery to Ukraine. This led to reasonable expectations in Bucharest that NATO might even organize a "sky police" for them following such a move, not to mention the potential for further battery transfers to the Ukrainian Defense Forces in exchange for what was provided.
At the same time, earlier this week, it was revealed that Raytheon received a $529 million contract to manufacture Patriot missile defense systems for the Netherlands, which had previously been actively involved in strengthening Ukraine's air defense with American missile systems. In this case, it specifically concerns the order of one fire unit to replace those that the Netherlands transferred to Ukraine.
In light of this news, the Romanian publication Defense Romania released an article stating that Bucharest should be the next after Amsterdam in terms of ordering another Patriot missile defense system to replace the one provided to Ukraine.
"The donated system is currently being compensated by our allies, and Romania is procuring a modern system that is more effective than the one donated," emphasized the head of the Romanian Ministry of Defense, Angel Tilvar, earlier this week, stating that the Patriot system Romania will ultimately receive will be "the technological pinnacle among these systems at this time."
Firstly, it is likely that along with the new system, Romania will also receive stocks of PAC-3 MSE interceptors, which are primarily capable of combating ballistic missiles. It is worth noting that Romania purchased its first Patriots back in 2017, received its first battery in 2020, and it took the country a total of seven years to fully operationalize them.
Secondly, and this is actually the most important point, Romanians hope that with the battery being supplied in exchange for the one sent to Ukraine, their military will also receive the latest LTAMDS radar system, which eliminates the main drawback of the Patriot and offers simultaneous coverage of all 360 degrees.