In a further strengthening of the cooperation between the Polish and U.S. defense industries, Warsaw and Raytheon Technologies Corp. signed a $1.2 billion agreement to produce components for Patriot air-defense batteries, Bloomberg reported Monday.
The deal, to produce 48 Patriot M903 launch stations, also provides opportunities for further contracts to supply components through the end of the decade.
The launchers are expected to be delivered to the Polish army between 2027 and 2029, The Defense Post reported.
"This contract strengthens Polish security," Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters after signing the agreement.
U.S. Ambassador Mark Brzezinski said Monday that "when it comes to air defense, Poland has never been as advanced as it is today," adding that relations with Poland have "never been so close," Bloomberg reported
As Russia wages war in Ukraine, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has increasingly used additional military spending as part of an attempt to mobilize common defense in the European Union, particularly a continent-wide air-defense shield.
Warsaw has procured two Patriot batteries with 16 launchers that were manufactured by Polish defense firm Huta Stalowa Wola SA.
The Patriot contract is the final stage for a process that began in 2017 under then-President Donald Trump, culminating in the June 2023 approval of Patriot sales worth as much as $15 billion.
Poland and the U.S. are expected in the coming days to sign another defense agreement on the purchase of 96 U.S.-made AH-64E Apache combat helicopters valued at more than $9 billion, according to The Defense Post.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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