STOCKHOLM, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Swedish government on Thursday gave the Swedish Armed Forces and the Defence Materiel Administration permission to purchase the American air defence system Patriot, the Swedish Television SVT reported.
The first phase of the deal with one of the world's largest weapon companies, American Ratheon, is worth at least 10 billion SEK (1.13 billion U.S. dollars). The contract also includes an option for Sweden to purchase a total of 300 air defence missiles with a maximum value of 3.2 billion U.S. dollars.
The first part of the deal includes 100 GEM-3 missiles that are optimized for airplanes, and 200 PAC-3 missiles that are developed as protection against ballistic missiles.
SVT writes that the actual cost of the deal is difficult to estimate in advance because the dollar rate varies and because the cost will be paid quarterly until the year 2024. Delivery is expected to start in 2021. (1 U.S. dollar = 8.87 SEK)
