MADRID — Spain will stay in Turkish soil with its Patriot air and anti-missile defense system despite the withdrawals of United States and Germany units.
After 11 months of deployment, the Spanish government decided to extend its participation in the NATO operation "Active Fence" until Dec. 31, 2016, MoD told Defense News.
The Patriot PAC-2 unit, with six launchers of 4 missiles in each one, is located near the airport of the southeastern city of Adana, the fifth most-populated city in Turkey and 63 miles from Syrian border.
Last October, Turkey appealed to its NATO allies to shore up missile defenses in the country aimed at shooting down Syrian rockets, as United States and Germany decided to withdraw their batteries from the cities of Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras.
NATO is considering an extra deployment of Italian anti-missile defense system Samp/T. The US Navy will offer one of the four Arleigh Burke class, based out of Rota,Spain, to be deployed on a constant basis in the Black Sea.
"This could be the new NATO architecture of the anti-missile defense in Turkey after the withdrawal of the Patriot unit of US and Germany," military sources told Defense News.
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