Ankara, Turkey. NATO is deploying another U.S. Patriot missile defence system to Turkey’s southern province of Adana, Turkey’s Defence Ministry said on Wednesday. The system is being sent to an area that includes the Incirlik Air Base.
Deployment to Adana
The ministry said the Patriot system, commissioned by Allied Air Command in Ramstein, Germany, is being deployed to Adana in addition to the existing Spanish Patriot system stationed there.
Adana hosts Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base, where personnel from the United States, Qatar, Spain, and Poland are located, as well as Turkish troops.
Previous deployment to Malatya
Turkey said last week that NATO had deployed a Patriot system to its southeastern Malatya province, near a NATO radar base, as part of steps to boost air defences against missile threats from the Iran war.
Turkey has NATO’s second-largest army and borders Iran.
Air defence capabilities
The ministry said the deployment comes in addition to national-level measures taken to ensure the security of Turkish airspace and citizens.
Turkey lacks its own fully fledged air defences despite development efforts, and has relied on NATO air defences stationed in the eastern Mediterranean Sea to intercept three missiles it says were fired from Iran since the war began.
How do you think the additional Patriot deployment could affect air defence readiness in southern Turkey?
