Grybauskaitė made the statement to the effect on Thursday. “The speed of response to an airborne threat may be crucial. Therefore, it would be appropriate to have such weapons in the Baltic region,” Grybauskaitė said.

This would ensure greater security for all of our countries, Grybauskaitė told reporters in Šiauliai in northern Lithuania, where she observed the Tobruq Legacy 2017 multinational ground-based air defense exercise.

This month the United States deployed a Patriot system to Lithuania for the first time, taking part in the drills.

Poland is planning to purchase the Patriot system from the U.S.

Grybauskaitė said that the capabilities of all countries in the region needed to be coordinated to ensure “that we do not overlap, but complement each other”.