Defense News: State Dept. clears $2.5 billion sale of Patriot missile defense system to Bahrain

WASHINGTON — The State Department has cleared a possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) of the Raytheon-made Patriot air-and-missile defense system to Bahrain worth an estimated price tag of $2.5 billion.

Bahrain would be a new Patriot customer, joining the ranks of 16 countries to include the United States.
Congress was notified of the sale May 3.

The deal would include 60 Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) missiles, 36 Patriot MIM-104E Guidance Enhanced Missiles (GEM-T) missiles with canisters, nine M903 launchers, two AN/MPQ-65 radar sets, control stations and other associated equipment.

Recent new customers include Poland, Romania and Sweden. Other Middle Eastern customers are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Qatar.


The State Department also approved a possible FMS to the UAE for 452 PAC-3 MSE missiles and related equipment for approximately $2.7 billion in a separate posting May 3.

Raytheon has seen a relative windfall in new Patriot customers over the past couple of years totaling roughly $18 billion, but all of those new customers have been European, responding to Russian aggression in the region.

Poland’s Patriot deal is expected to cost the country roughly $10.5 billion, according to State Department estimates.

Sweden is the newest customer after holding a competition to buy an air-and-missile defense system. The country will buy four fire units, 100 GEM-T missiles and 200 PAC-3 MSE missiles and other necessary equipment for roughly $3.2 billion.