Poland today signed an agreement worth 1.13 billion euros for the production of 48 launchers of the US Patriot anti-aircraft missile to strengthen its defence against possible Russian threats.
The M903 launchers will be produced in Poland, according to the agreement signed between the US company Raytheon and the Polish group Huta Stalowa Wola, and are expected 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, as quoted by the French news agency AFP.
This is an important new contract in the context of the modernisation of the Polish army, accelerated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
As a neighbouring state and supporter of Ukraine, Poland will spend more than 4% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on defence this year, a sum of around 33 billion dollars (30.2 billion euros at the current exchange rate).
The percentage of defence spending is double the 2% required by NATO, of which Poland is a member.
Poland is also making a series of major purchases of military equipment, worth billions of dollars, mainly from the United States and South Korea.
On Friday, Warsaw signed an agreement with Washington to purchase several hundred AIM-120C AMRAAM air-to-air missiles, a contract worth $55 million (about €783 million).
According to Polish media, the two countries are expected to sign a final agreement on Tuesday to purchase 96 American AH-64E Apache combat helicopters, worth an estimated €9 billion.
To prepare for this purchase, Poland signed industrial offset agreements with US companies Boeing and General Electric last week.
These agreements involve the transfer of helicopter maintenance skills to Polish factories, for a total value of about €215 million.
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