By Deutsche Welle
Aug 12, 2024, 6:35 PM EDT
Poland has signed a €1.13 billion contract to manufacture 48 US Patriot anti-aircraft missile launchers, intended to strengthen the defence of this country bordering Russia and Ukraine.
The M903 launchers will be produced in Poland, according to an agreement signed between the American company Raytheon and the Polish group Huta Stalowa Wola, and are scheduled to be delivered to the Polish Army between 2027 and 2029.
“This contract strengthens Poland’s security,” said Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz at the signing ceremony.
He will strengthen his army
Poland, which accelerated the modernization of its military in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, will spend more than 4 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense this year, a sum of some $33 billion and double the 2 percent demanded by NATO.
On Friday, Poland signed a deal with the United States to purchase hundreds of AIM-120C AMRAAM medium-range air-to-air missiles.
According to Polish media, Warsaw and Washington will sign another agreement in the coming days for the purchase of 96 Apache AH-64E helicopters for an estimated value of more than 9 billion dollars.
Ukraine receives F-16
Meanwhile, after more than two years of waiting, Ukraine has received its first F-16 fighter-bombers, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced, indicating that his country will need more of these US-made aircraft to confront the Russian invasion.
“We often heard the word ‘impossible’, but we made our ambition possible. Now it is a reality, a reality in our sky: F-16s are in Ukraine,” Zelensky said as some of the planes flew overhead.
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