America and its NATO allies are giving a pretty big present to Turkey this holiday season — battle-proven defense infrastructure designed to protect it from a Syrian missile attack.

The package is predominantly Patriot air defense missiles from Germany, the Netherlands and — announced earlier this month — the United States. With the Patriot and 400 U.S. troops to operate the system, Turkey will be better protected both from the ballistic missiles that are already raining down on it, but more importantly, from the looming threat of chemical weapons.