Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Poland has made a series of military purchases, particularly from the United States and South Korea. However, not all of them are operational yet due to lack of financing solutions.
Of course, Warsaw raised the level of its military spending to 4% of GDP and knew how to play with the European peace facility. [FEP]Extra budgetary funding of the European Union [UE]It is used to help member states replace their equipment of Soviet origin handed over to Ukrainian forces.
However, in view of the announced orders, all this is still insufficient… and Poland is banking on loans to finance its arms purchases. The same thing happened in South Korea. At least we believed so, because last December, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed that Warsaw does not have the facilities offered by Seoul.
“There was a problem with the Korean purchases… a significant part of the Korean purchases had to be financed by the debt that Korea owed. In the end, there was a misunderstanding… it turned out that there was no Korean debt,” he said during a press conference.
What happens if I order from the US? Meanwhile, Polish President Andrzej Duda will not leave Washington empty-handed, where he met his US counterpart, Joe Biden, on March 12. In fact, he was guaranteed that the Polish Army would receive 96 AH-64E Guardian attack helicopters. [ou Apache] Also 2 billion dollars loan was provided by the US administration.
In addition, his US visit coincided with the release of three advisories by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency. [DSCA, chargée des exportations d’équipements militaires] Recommends that Congress approve the possible sale to Poland of 232 AIM-9X Sidewinder Block II air-to-air missiles and 745 AIM-120C-8 AMRAM air-to-air missiles. [Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles] and 821 AGM-158B-2 JASSM-ER air-to-surface cruise missiles. [Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles with Extended Range]800 to 1000 km.
The total of these three potential sales is estimated at $3.68 billion [219,1 millions pour les AIM-9X, 1,69 milliard pour les AIM-120C-8 et 1,77 milliard pour les JASSM-ER]. Note that the Polish Air Force already has such ammunition in its inventory.
These “additional missiles will allow Poland to strengthen its defenses, while increasing NATO interoperability,” the DSCA argued in its three comments.
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