Germany wants PAC-3 missile production in Europe, Pistorius says

BERLIN — Germany is keen for one of the main missiles used by the U.S.-made Patriot air-defense system to be produced in Europe, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Wednesday, as demand for the weapons surges across NATO and in Ukraine. “That is our wish,” Pistorius told reporters outside a meeting of the Bundestag’s defense committee, responding to a question from POLITICO about whether he wanted a PAC-3 production line established in the country. “It is about PAC-3, it is about PAC-2 GEM-T, and theoretically it could also be about Patriot systems, but that is not a decision we can make. We have an offer,” he said. PAC-3 and PAC-2 GEM-T are interceptor missiles fired by Patriot air-defense batteries to destroy incoming threats.