Friday, December 14, 2012
Panetta signs order to deploy Patriot missiles, 400 troops to Turkey, cost to be paid by the U.S. taxpayer.
Panetta signs order to deploy Patriot missiles, 400 troops to Turkey, cost to be paid by the U.S. taxpayer.(PTv).US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has signed orders to authorize the plan, the New York Times reported on Friday.
Washington will provide two out of six Patriot missile batteries, while Germany and the Netherlands will each contribute two.
According to a US Defense Department official, it will take three weeks to ship and station the two batteries in Turkey.
On December 4, the NATO military alliance approved Ankara’s request for the deployment of Patriot surface-to-air missiles along its border with Syria.
All the six Patriot batteries, which will be under NATO’s command and control, are scheduled to be operational near the Turkey-Syria border by the end of January 2013.
On December 6, the German cabinet approved the deployment of missiles and 400 troops to the border region.
The German foreign and defense ministries said in a joint statement, “The deployment of Patriot air defense systems in close cooperation with the Netherlands and the US underlines Germany’s reliability as an ally.”
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on November 22 that Berlin would meet the Turkish demand, saying NATO should as well approve Turkey’s request as a NATO member.
The Syrian government has censured the Turkish request, calling it another act of provocation by the government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Many people, including large numbers of Syrian security forces, have been killed over the past months of unrest in Syria that began in March 2011.
Damascus says certain Western states, especially the United States, and their regional allies including Turkey are trying to fuel the turmoil.
On November 28, the New York Times reported that the US administration “is considering deeper intervention to help push [Syrian] President Bashar al-Assad from power.”
Each battery reportedly has four to six missile launchers and each launcher has the capacity to launch 16 missiles. A total of six missile batteries would be able to launch at least 500 missiles in response to attacks.
With some 100 soldiers needed to operate each battery, the number of US, Dutch and German soldiers to be deployed in Turkey is expected to be around 600.
The cost of transportation and operation of the systems is expected to be met by the countries supplying Patriots to Turkey. Turkey, for its part, will meet the cost of the accommodation, food and local transport of the foreign soldiers to be based in Turkey to operate the Patriot missile systems.Read the full story here, more here.
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