On Tuesday, March 12th, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan informed during a press briefing that US President Joe Biden, during a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk, will announce that Poland will receive an additional $2 billion (7.86 billion PLN) in the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program as well as an offer for 96 AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopters.
Photo: master corporal Łukasz Fiedorowicz
(…) As you all know, President Biden looks forward to welcoming President Duda and Prime Minister Tusk of Poland for a joint meeting at the White House this afternoon.
President Biden has twice traveled to Warsaw for historic visits in 2022 and 2023. And today, he has the opportunity to repay the hospitality of the Polish people and the leaders of Poland. The leaders will celebrate the 25th anniversary of Poland joining the NATO Alliance, which is more united, determined, dynamic, and larger than ever — now 32 nations strong after Sweden joined the Alliance last week.
This afternoon, the leaders will reaffirm their ironclad commitment to the NATO Alliance and to our collective self-defense under Article 5, and they will coordinate in advance of the upcoming NATO summit, which will be hosted by President Biden here in Washington this summer.
They will also discuss our shared support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s brutal war of aggression. As you know, Poland has provided significant security assistance to Ukraine. It’s also played a critical support and logistics role for the U.S. and our allies and partners in a historic and unprecedented effort to supply Ukraine with the tools that it needs to defend Ukraine against this Russian imperial war of conquest.
The Polish people have also generously opened their doors to about 1 million Ukrainian refugees.
Poland’s leadership has also demonstrated that once again, in a very live and almost technicolor way, that Putin’s illegal invasion has produced the exact opposite effect of what Putin intended. Today, Poland is spending nearly 4 percent of its GDP on defense — double the NATO commitment — and is serving as an anchor in a vibrant, vital Alliance, just when Putin thought he would divide and weaken the NATO Alliance.
Our bilateral relationship is also growing even stronger. Today, the President will share with Poland’s leaders that the United States plans to move forward with a new $2 billion Foreign Military Financing direct loan to Poland using previously appropriated congressional funds, and we’ll offer to sell Poland 96 Apache helicopters.
These and other initiatives will equip Poland with cutting-edge capability to defend itself while also strengthening NATO interoperability and contributing to American jobs.
The leaders will also discuss the strong U.S.-Polish energy security partnership, the robust economic relationship between our countries, and the enduring importance of democratic values. (…)
Jake Sullivan
Analysis
Let’s recall that on September 25, 2023, the U.S. Department of State announced the signing of the first loan agreement with Poland for an equivalent of $2 billion in the FMF program to support the modernization of the Polish Armed Forces. Earlier, on September 29, 2022, the United States Embassy in Warsaw informed that the USA would provide Poland with $288.6 million (1.435 billion PLN) in non-repayable financial assistance under the FMF program to support the Polish Armed Forces.
On March 7th of this year, the second day of the 7th session of the Polish Parliament, Paweł Bejda, the Deputy Ministry of National Defense responsible for overseeing the technical modernization of the Polish Armed Forces, informed about, among other things, the continuation of plans to acquire AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopters.
On August 21, 2023, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) reported that the U.S. Department of State had approved the potential sale of these helicopters to Poland, which, along with the equipment and armaments package, was valued at a maximum of $12 billion (49.38 billion PLN at that time).
On November 17, 2023, the Polish Armed Forces General Command informed that Polish pilots from the 1st Aviation Brigade of the Polish Land Forces conducted their first training flights on AH-64E at Fort Novosel in Alabama, USA.
However, before the Polish Armed Forces starts receiving AH-64E helicopters, the country is set to receive 8 AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopters leased from the U.S. Army as an interim solution.
On February 20th of this year, as part of the implementation of Phase II of the Wisła program, the Polish Ministry of National Defense signed another offset agreement with Northrop Grumman International Trading, Inc. (a part of the Northrop Grumman corporation), including the establishment of ammunition production in Poland for the armament of Apache helicopters.
On September 25, 2023, during the visit to the USA by the then Minister of National Defense Mariusz Błaszczak, an offset agreement was signed to establish service and repair facilities for key components of these helicopters in Poland. Maintenance, repair, and operation tasks (MRO) will be carried out at the Military Aviation Works–WZL1 in Łódź, while training will be conducted at the Military University of Technology in Warsaw.