Ally pulls out of Dutch Defense Ministry's plan to give Ukraine complete Patriot system

The Ministry of Defense reported to parliament at the end of June that the Netherlands and an ally would jointly provide Ukraine with a complete Patriot air defense system. That will no longer happen, the Ministry reports. The unspecified ally pulled out.

At the end of May, Defense announced its intention to supply a Patriot system to Ukraine, saying that the Netherlands had “core components” ready. The other components would be supplied by other countries.

“With our offer, and if other potential partner countries can supply components and ammunition, we can provide Ukraine with at least one complete system in the short term,” said then-Defense Minister Kajsa Ollengren at the time.

A month later, the Minister reported that she had succeeded in finding another country to collaborate on this donation. At the time, she did not say which other country came forward to help. A week later, she repeated in a letter to parliament that all was done and dusted.

“The necessary components for a complete Patriot system have now been collected. The Netherlands is providing three launch installations and a radar, the other necessary core components are being supplied by an ally,” Ollongren replied to questions from the CDA.

But this week, it turned out that the non-Dutch components weren’t ready. Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans told the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that the Netherlands recently sent the radar and that three launch installations will be transferred soon.

But other countries are still looking for other components to complete the system, Brekelmans said. “We are still working on that.” Discussions are ongoing with “several partners,” he told the newspaper.

A Defense spokesperson said that the Ministry was “recently” informed “that the previously mentioned commitment by an ally is not being honored.” The Ministry still would not say which country is involved.