US approves sale of €1.17 billion worth of missiles to Poland
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The United States announced on Tuesday that it had approved the sale of $1.33 billion (€1.17 billion) worth of air defence missiles to Poland. The package includes 400 AIM-120D medium-range air-to-air missiles.
In addition, Warsaw will also receive guidance systems kits, spare parts, shipping containers, as well as access to the US software needed to operate the missiles.
The US State Department approved the possible sale and the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said it had provided the necessary notifications to Congress for further approval.
'The proposed sale will improve Poland's capability to meet current and future threats by providing air-to-air defence to protect Polish and allied forces in transition or combat and significantly improve the Polish contribution to NATO requirements," said DSCA in a statement.
Washington says the sale is in line with its foreign policy goals of ensuring their allies, in particular those in NATO, that act as a 'force for political and economic stability in Europe'.
The sale comes as Warsaw looks to achieve its targets of increasing defence expenditure to 5% of GDP by next year, a key demand of US President Donald Trump for NATO members.
Trump has routinely criticised Europe for its lack of emphasis on its defence, and low spending on military and defence. He's also accused Washington's longtime cross-Atlantic allies of 'piggy-backing' on the US through NATO for its security.
Last week, Estonia, also a NATO member, announced a multi-billion Euro bill in additional defence spending. The new bill will see the Baltic country meet Trump's required threshold, putting the country which neighbours Russia at roughly 5.4% of GDP in defence expenditure.
Poland says it's committed to increasing military investments to better equip itself against any potential threats following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
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