The Ministry of National Defense, on behalf of the Romanian Government, has paid these days for three more wide-range Patriot ground-to-air missile systems, Minister of National Defense Mihai Fifor wrote on his Facebook page. “By acquiring these three new systems, which add to that already contracted in November 2017, the first stage of the Patriot endowment is completed, with the four military installations to endow the Romanian Air Force from the second half of 2019, the first system being planned for operationalization in mid-2020,” the posting informs. The military personnel to operate the PATRIOT systems will start training in the US in March 2019. “With this year’s evolution of essential endowment programs, Romania has real chances to reach the two percent of GDP allocated to the defense budget for the second consecutive year,” Fifor say