On a hill in the middle of corn fields are two radar devices. Visibility extends for miles. For this reason, the Bundeswehr has taken up position here in the extreme east of Poland with its Patriot anti-aircraft missile unit.
Arranged in a semicircle, a few hundred meters away, are ten launch pads. Guided missiles, which are around three meters long and weigh around two tons, are being loaded onto one of the “fire units” from a truck. They are oriented to the east.
It is only a short hop to the Ukraine from the Polish military base Zamosc, which the 300 German soldiers visit after their work in three shifts. Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) visited the barracks and the position this Monday. It is barely 50 kilometers to the border, which also marks that of the NATO alliance area.
The village of Przewodow is also in the area, where two people died in the fall of a rocket. Because it was initially thought to be a Russian one, which would have been tantamount to an attack on NATO territory, there was a brief alarm mood in the alliance.
Although it ended up being a Ukrainian stray, it was decided to reinforce missile defenses on the eastern flank. Germany offered help, which the right-wing populist government in Warsaw accepted after some back and forth.
Three German Patriot squadrons have been deployed since February, and one has just been temporarily withdrawn to protect the NATO summit in Lithuania. There is no official end date for the assignment. Internally, however, it was planned at around six months, which is why the German minister wants to clarify with his Polish counterpart Mariusz Blaszczak on site whether and how the “eVA POL” mission should continue. The abbreviation stands for “enhanced vigilance activities”.
Increased vigilance on NATO’s eastern flank
This does not only apply in general in the NATO area. It’s also about “protecting strategically important infrastructure,” as a Defense Department spokesman says. Within firing range of the position in Zamosc is the railway junction, through which the arms deliveries are made, with which Ukraine is supposed to survive in the war against Russia. “The Patriots,” says Blaszczak, “also protect these deliveries.”
Devices that have been damaged in combat or due to wear and tear and need to be repaired usually return by rail. Also near Zamosc and thus under the Patriot missile shield, a workshop for broken Leopard tanks is to be built. Something similar already exists for other weapon systems in Romania and Slovakia.
So far, however, little has happened despite a declaration of intent signed by both ministers in mid-April. The date at the end of May, by which the repair shop should start, according to Pistorius, has long since passed. The German armaments companies Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Rheinmetall and Poland’s arms manufacturer PGZ have not yet been able to agree on the modalities of a joint venture.
It’s about complex legal issues of industrial cooperation. The “Spiegel” also reported on Sunday that the Polish company wanted to charge “moon prices” for an inspection – a sensitive point, since 150 million euros for the repairs in Poland are to come from the federal budget.
A politically charged topic
Poland is very interested in the Patriots staying in Poland.
Warsaw Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak
Formally it is only about an industrial cooperation, but against the background of the already not easy German-Polish relationship, the topic is politically charged – and linked to the further Patriot stationing.
Pistorius didn’t go into this on Monday when his counterpart asked for further support: “Poland is very interested in the Patriots staying in Poland – at least until the end of the year.” The German minister’s answer? He puts pressure on the tank workshop.
“Time is of the essence,” says Boris Pistorius in Zamosc – knowing that the number of damaged Leopard tanks is increasing and that Ukraine will only have enough equipment by repairing weapons that have already been delivered. In his opinion, solutions “must” be found within ten days, suitable for the NATO summit. Only then, so it sounds, will a decision be made as to whether the Patriot missiles will stop in the corn fields of Zamosc.