Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak announced on Thursday that Warsaw has submitted a request to the US to purchase 96 Apache attack helicopters. In addition to the helicopters, Poland will also receive a technology transfer, he wrote on Twitter. He does not provide any further details. The manufacturer of the Apache attack helicopters is the Boeing group.
According to a report by the Polish agency PAP, the first helicopters are to go to an army unit equipped with Abrams main battle tanks from the USA. Together, the two weapon systems formed an “unstoppable force,” said Blaszczak on the sidelines of a meeting of the so-called Ukraine contact group at the US military base in Ramstein, Rhineland-Palatinate.
US Ambassador to Poland Mark Brzezinski tweeted that the decision will make Poland the world’s second largest operator of Apache after the United States. Along with the acquisition of Abrams tanks and other advanced systems, this will strengthen Poland’s interoperability and military readiness.
Poland sees itself as a close partner of the USA and will arm its army with hundreds of used and new Abrams tanks. This is intended to replace Soviet-made tanks, which the eastern EU and NATO member passed on to Ukraine to ward off the Russian attack. Poland is one of the most active military and political supporters of Ukraine – and at the same time is arming itself massively against a threat from Russia.
Boeing shares temporarily rose 0.34 percent to $156.48 on the NYSE.
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