How Poland will spend $4 billion in US military financing

Poland and the US signed another agreement on Wednesday as part of the American Foreign Military Financing programme. It concerns a loan guarantee for the purchase of American equipment and amounts to $4 billion. „The FMF programme is granted only to the best allies,” emphasised the Minister of National Defence, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, on Wednesday.

Deputy Defence Minister Paweł Bejda, asked on Thursday morning on RMF FM how the funds from this instrument would be used, said that so far, FMF money has financed the purchase of Barbara aerostats, which he described as „very high-altitude reconnaissance balloons.” However, the Deputy Minister clarified that the list of key purchases supported by these funds is much longer and includes the most modern equipment for the Polish Armed Forces. „This includes, for example, the modernisation of F-16 aircraft […], Apache helicopters, and the entire Wisła (Vistula) project, which includes both launchers and all Patriot missile systems,” Bejda listed. He added that the concrete effects of this financing would be visible very quickly.

He also stated that he would advocate for the purchase of „very heavy transport helicopters.” „I want to emphasise, these could be dual-use helicopters, for example, for evacuating people during floods, or for firefighting,” he said.

When asked whether the Fire Service would receive new firefighting helicopters, he said that the Ministry of National Defence – as part of inter-ministerial talks – would want to convince the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of the Interior and Administration to purchase Firehawk helicopters. „It is possible that we will reach an agreement regarding, for example, the SAFE funds that will be transferred to the Ministry of the Interior and Administration. This is still in the phase of talks and negotiations, but I think such helicopters would be very necessary due to climate change,” he added.

Bejda, asked whether – in the event of a massive incursion of Russian drones into Polish territory, such as occurred on the night of 9-10 September last year – it would be necessary for fighter jets to shoot down the UAVs, stated, „Of course, yes.” „We are getting closer to, for example, the SAN system, which will secure the Polish sky. […] We are also adapting aircraft, and Mielec (Polish Aviation Works in Mielec) is currently adapting those aircraft that will be used, among other things, to shoot down these drones. We are also adapting helicopters for this purpose, as well as entire so-called short-range systems that will combat drones that might enter the territory of the Republic of Poland,” said the Deputy Defence Minister. He added that the Polish military already has drones designed to combat other drones, namely kamikaze ones.

Bejda was also asked whether the creation of a service centre for Patriot system missiles in Poland is a realistic project. The Deputy Minister stressed that it is „very realistic” and that such a centre would be a prelude to the production of PAC-3 missiles used in these systems.

When asked when the final decision on this matter would be made, he said it should happen by the end of the year. „At the moment, there are practically two countries left on the negotiating field – Poland and Germany. In the corridors, we hear that Poland has a very high chance of being the service hub for all Patriot missiles,” he emphasised. He added that this would be a joint action rather than competition with Germany.

On the night of 9-10 September last year, Polish airspace was repeatedly violated by drones during a night-time attack by the Russian Federation on Ukraine. During the incursion of Russian UAVs over Poland, Polish and Allied combat aircraft were scrambled to intercept them; however, military officials and MON representatives later pointed out that shooting down cheap drones with missiles costing millions of dollars, designed to combat enemy aircraft, is uneconomical and ineffective, and that cheaper means are necessary for potential combat against dozens or hundreds of drones.