More orders for the most modern equipment for the Polish Armed Forces soon
21.04.2022
“In the aftermath of the talks with US Secretary of Defence L. Austin, I spoke with the management of arms companies. We will soon start to submit inquiries related to the purchase of modern weapons in order to equip the Polish Army. (…) These are new orders, but at the moment I will not discuss their scale. It will be significantly greater than the orders placed previously” - said Minister of National Defence, Mariusz Błaszczak after talks with the management of US arms companies.
On Thursday, April the 21st, the head of the Ministry of National Defence, who is visiting the United States, held talks with representatives of the American arms companies: General Dynamics, Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
"We talked today about developing our cooperation with arms companies. On Saturday, the Motherland Defence Act comes into force. It is the foundation that will allow us to significantly develop the Polish Army and equip it with modern equipment. (...) There is no doubt that we need more PATRIOT batteries, HIMARS missile squadrons, combat aircraft, attack helicopters. We talked about such type of weapon, but also about JASSM, JAVELIN missiles" - said the head of the Ministry of National Defence after the meetings.
As Minister M. Błaszczak informed, one of the topics of the talks was also the issue related to accelerating the delivery of equipment already ordered for the Polish Armed Forces. The companies in which the equipment was ordered are open to any means to accelerate deliveries.
The Polish government ordered PATRIOT batteries to equip the Polish Army in 2018, HIMARS rockets in 2019, F35 planes in 2020, this year ABRAMS tanks. This year, the first PATRIOT batteries and the first ABRAMS tanks will be delivered, thanks to which it will be possible to start training crews in Poland.
The head of the Ministry of National Defence pointed out that modern equipment allows for better cooperation with allies, including the US soldiers.
"We want the Polish troops to be interoperable with the US military. Already over 10,000 US soldiers are stationed in Poland" - emphasized the minister.
When asked about helicopters for the Polish Army, Minister M. Błaszczak pointed out that there are two offers at the moment - the offer by Boeing and Bell.
"We will choose the best offer. We want the Polish Armed Forces to be equipped with such weapons as soon as possible” - added the minister.
Ministry of National Defence
