US offers Warsaw 96 Apache helicopters, as Polish leaders visit Washington

President of the United States Joe Biden has pledged a $2 billion loan for Poland to bolster its security and defence while also offering to sell the country 96 Apache attack helicopters, following a visit from Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk to Washington on Tuesday.

The visit took place on the 25th anniversary of Poland’s accession to NATO, and Duda and Tusk met with the president and other key US figures.

“The United States will move forward with a new $2 billion Foreign Military Financing (FMF) direct loan to Poland to bolster its security and support its defence modernisation using previously appropriated congressional funds. This loan will enable Poland’s purchase of additional U.S. defence equipment, further supporting US jobs and our deepening security relationship,” a statement from the Whitehouse reads.

Biden also said the US will offer to sell Poland some 96 AH-64 Apache helicopters in a “major step to provide Poland’s armed forces with cutting-edge capability to defend itself, strengthen NATO interoperability, and further bolster the US defence industry.”

Duda said there’s no better place to celebrate Poland’s NATO anniversary than the White House, where the decision to expand NATO to the East was made by bipartisan consensus.

“Over these 25 years, we have shown that we are a reliable and proven ally, including when our soldiers fought shoulder to shoulder with Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan,” he argued, as quoted by the president’s office.

Poland joined NATO on 12 March 1999, along with the Czech Republic and Hungary. According to Duda, “a huge dream of generations of Poles came true then.”

Beyond the domestic conflict

Duda and Tusk’s decision to make the visit together, despite their cool relations at home, may be a sign of the role of good transatlantic relations for Poland and the will to maintain cooperation with the US regardless of who is in power in both countries, as Tusk confirmed.

Admitting “political conflict in Poland”, the prime minister said that “in the security matters, about Russia, Ukraine and transatlantic ties, there is almost full consensus” between him and the president.

Duda, a former member of the main opposition Law and Justice party (PiS, ECR), disapproved of most of the actions of Tusk’s government, which came to power last December.

Duda’s new defence spending target

The Polish president and prime minister’s talks with Biden and other US politicians also touched on further support for Ukraine in its war with Russia and strengthening NATO’s military potential in the face of the Russian threat.

Poland is one of the NATO countries fulfilling the alliance’s defence spending target of 2% of GDP for years.

Ahead of the visit, Duda said the current security situation, including the threat from Russia, made it urgent for NATO countries to spend at least 3% of GDP on their defence.

“2% was enough 10 years ago. Now we need 3% in response to the full-scale war initiated by Russia behind NATO’s eastern border,” he stressed in Washington.

This is likely to meet opposition from Poland’s NATO allies, Tusk earlier said. “I warned Mr. President that there would be no enthusiastic response to his proposal. Still, the president has his own arguments,” he told the media.

“It is currently very unlikely that Russia will decide to enter into an open conflict with NATO,” Tusk stressed, adding that such a scenario “will become more likely” if NATO “practically ceases to function.”

Poland is also expected to insist on the US Congress approving a new $60 billion package of military support for war-torn Ukraine.

Another demand concerns more US troops to be deployed in Poland, which Tusk admitted is rather unlikely.

“However, I really want our partners to understand that our operational plans and real infrastructure prevented the scenario that Ukraine experienced during Russia’s first attack when it was completely unprepared,” he said.

Last Friday, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski called it “not unthinkable” that NATO may send its forces to find Ukraine, a possibility that has been discussed since French President Emmanuel Macron had not ruled it out last month.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg distanced himself from such an option, stressing on Monday that “NATO has no plans to send troops to Ukraine, and NATO is not a party to the conflict, nor are NATO allies.”

The visit by the Polish president and prime minister to Washington comes during the presidential campaign in the US. According to the media’s unofficial reports, Duda also wanted to meet Biden’s rival, Donald Trump, yet the current US administration blocked such plans.

Both Duda and the then-PiS government had warm relations with Trump when he was president, with Poland praised several times by Trump for honouring its commitments as a NATO ally.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)

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