Poland to Buy U.S. Missile Shield, European Helicopters

Warsaw is set to increase military spending in the face of a more assertive Russian foreign policy

Poland on Tuesday said it planned to split $8 billion in planned missile-defense and military-helicopter purchases between U.S. and European contractors, in a sign that European military spending is increasing as countries react to the Ukraine conflict.

Raytheon Co. ’s Patriot missile-defense shield was selected as part of Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski’s $40 billion effort to modernize the country’s armed forces as Russia adopts a more assertive foreign policy.

Poland chose the U.S. defense company’s bid over a rival European offering and one from the MEADS consortium led by Lockheed Martin Corp. Officials also selected a unit of Airbus Group NV to supply 50 military helicopters—down from its previous plan for 70—over bids from U.S.-based Sikorsky and AgustaWestland, a European consortium.

Polish and U.S. soldiers look at a Patriot missile defense 
battery during joint exercises at the military grounds in 
Sochaczew, near Warsaw in this picture taken March 21. 
Photo: Reuters

Poland has pledged to increase its military spending amid concerns that the smoldering separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine will erupt into a full-scale military conflict. Warsaw plans to return to its earlier policy of spending 2% of gross domestic product on its armed forces in 2016, after it scaled back spending in recent years to shore up its public finances.

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