The advanced U.S.-made air defense system will be located in Malatya in southeastern Turkey, north of Gaziantep province, near the eastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea, where a ballistic missile was shot down on Monday.
Turkey has blamed Iran for the missile, which is the second to be shot down in Turkish airspace in a short period of time. Iranian state media reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke by phone with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan. Araghchi claimed in the conversation that the missiles did not come from Iran and that the incident should be investigated.
Near Malatya is the Kurecik air base, where NATO operates a radar system aimed at detecting fired missiles.
Debris from the missile shot down on Monday landed about 150 kilometers from the Incirlik military base, where hundreds of U.S. personnel are stationed and where the United States is believed to have placed nuclear weapons.
