Poland buys $2.5-billion US battle command system

February 29, 2024 09:42 PM

Poland has signed a deal with the United States to buy a $2.5-billion integrated battle command system (IBCS), its defence minister said Thursday.

The NATO and EU member has made important military purchases in recent years -- mainly from the United States and South Korea -- amid security concerns over the war in neighbouring Ukraine.

Warsaw currently spends more than four percent of GDP on defence, the highest rate among NATO members.

"The Polish army is acquiring an operational brain for air and missile defence systems," Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said alongside the US ambassador to Warsaw.

"Poland will be the second country, after the United States, to have the world's most modern integrated command system," he added.

Mark Brzezinski, the US ambassador, highlighted the importance of the deal on X, formerly Twitter.

"We have seen with our own eyes in Ukraine how crucial air and missile defence is, and this order will provide Poland with the best, most modern and effective tools to defend NATO territory," he wrote in Polish.

Poland will receive the battle command system by 2031, according to the deal.