The British subsidiary of the European arms group MBDA will supply Poland with anti-aircraft missiles worth around 1.9 billion pounds (2.4 billion dollars), the Polish arms agency announced on Friday ( AT).
The EU member country's government, which is one of the staunchest supporters of Ukraine torn apart by Russian aggression unleashed more than a year ago, said the deal would significantly boost defense anti-aircraft.
The arms agency specified that MBDA UK would supply Poland with "
44 iLauncher launchers and several hundred CAMM missiles and associated equipment
".
According to the agency, “
The value of the order is approximately £1.9 billion.
Deliveries of military equipment will be made between 2025 and 2029
”.
In its press release, MBDA declared that it was “the
largest program of acquisition of (material for) anti-aircraft defense of short range in Europe within NATO
”. The launchers and the missiles will feed 22 batteries of the Polish Pilica+ air defense program with a range of up to 25 kilometers.
Fear of Russian aggression
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called the deal a "
significant boost to Euro-Atlantic security
", in a statement that said Poland was already using MBDA's CAMM missiles.
"
He is already deployed in Poland with the British military to protect his airspace following Putin's barbaric invasion of Ukraine last year
," Downing Street said, later saying on Twitter that "
the The agreement will support 500 jobs, contributing to the growth of the economy and providing essential defense infrastructure to Poland
”.
Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak, meanwhile, stressed on Twitter that the deal “
will strengthen Poland's air defense capability.
»
Poland, bordering Ukraine and Russia, fears to be a future target of the Kremlin.
According to a NATO report, this country spent more than 2.4% of its GDP on defense last year, which places it in third position within the Atlantic Alliance, just behind Greece. (3.76% of GDP) and the United States (3.47%).
This year, its military spending must reach 3% of GDP, according to the finance law.
After a few years of relative stagnation, Poland has recently signed several major military contracts, notably with the United States and South Korea.
The contracts concluded with the Americans relate to 32 F-35 combat aircraft, 366 Abrams tanks and Patriot anti-missile systems and those with South Korea to a thousand K2 tanks, nearly 700 self-propelled howitzers, 50 FA- 50 and 288 K239 multiple launch rocket systems.
Warsaw has also signed a contract with Turkey for Bayraktar drones.
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