Poland is strengthening its defense with US missiles: The delivery comes amid a tense security situation – cooperation with Ukraine is planned
Warsaw – Poland continues to arm itself: According to media reports, an agreement was reached between the NATO country and the United States, according to which radar-guided air-to-air missiles are now to be delivered.
The armament is taking place in parallel with the tightened security situation: After an attack on a railway line last month, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj agreed on closer cooperation. Tusk wrote down Xthe cooperation of the secret services and the railway companies had been agreed. The aim is, among other things, to identify people suspected of collaborating with Russia and to prevent acts of sabotage.
Poland is arming itself – new missiles from the USA
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Like that Military Watch Magazine Reportedly, Poland is signing a $500 million contract with the US government under Donald Trump to procure AIM-120D-3 radar-guided air-to-air missiles. The missiles are intended for the future F-35A and the current F-16C/D fleet after Washington approved the sale of up to 400 missiles.
Back in January 2020, the ministry ordered 32 F-35A fighter jets under a $4.6 billion contract. This was followed in August 2025 by a $3.8 billion contract to modernize 48 F-16C/D Block 52+ fighter aircraft to the F-16V standard and to upgrade their aircraft electronics to a standard comparable to the F-35. The AIM-120 has been the primary air-to-air weapon for nearly three decades. The greatly improved AIM-120D variant is the most powerful radar-guided air-to-air missile the United States has ever exported.
Poland’s military plan: Europe’s largest land force?
Most recently, Poland invested around $6.5 billion in tracked vehicles in August. According to the magazine Defense News The investment is planned to include 180 K-2 Black Panthers and 81 support vehicles. If the venture were successful, Poland would have a larger tank army than Germany, Great Britain and France combined Focus Online fest.
The country’s willingness to invest on NATO’s eastern border is no coincidence: the Polish-Russian border runs almost 232 kilometers in a straight line between Poland and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. In addition, a 418 kilometer long border separates the EU and NATO member from Russia’s closest ally Belarus. Poland’s defense budget was 3.9 percent of GDP in 2023 – almost double the NATO target of two percent. This means that the country clearly outperforms its allies. Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak, who will be in office until 2023, said that Poland wanted to build “the largest land force in Europe”.
Intelligence cooperation: Poland and Ukraine act
The immediacy of the threat posed by Vladimir Putin was recently made clear by an explosive attack on a Polish railway line: As part of Operation Horizon, 10,000 Polish soldiers, together with members of other uniformed services, are to take part in monitoring important objects in order to counteract acts of sabotage.
The Polish government accuses Russian secret services of being behind the bomb attack on the railway line. The tracks were destroyed in an explosion near the town of Mika, around a hundred kilometers southeast of Warsaw. Because a train driver noticed and reported the damage, no one was injured. Further damage was found on the same route.
The investigators have two suspects in their sights. The two Ukrainian citizens are said to have acted on behalf of Moscow and fled to Belarus after the crime. The public prosecutor’s office accuses the two men of spying for a foreign secret service, endangering traffic and using explosives, an authority spokesman said. If convicted, they face life imprisonment.
US peace plan for Ukraine: Poland’s criticism
Poland’s military was also relevant to the alleged US peace plan in the Ukraine war. Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski criticized this and stated: In his view, it is not the victim’s ability to defend himself that should be restricted, but rather the attacker’s ability to act aggressively.
Die Financial Times had reported on the alleged peace plan negotiated by the US leadership and Russia, citing people involved in the talks process. This stipulates that Ukraine should completely evacuate the contested areas of Donetsk and Luhansk and halve its army. This should also include parts of the areas that Russia has not yet been able to conquer militarily. The front line in the south is to be largely frozen.
Little was known about the plan in European capitals. EU circles in Brussels said that the USA was in talks with both warring parties, but the new plan had not yet been seen. Sikorski said Poland fundamentally supports any effort to achieve peace in Ukraine. However, Europe is the most important financial and military supporter of the fighting Ukraine, and the security situation in Europe also largely depends on how the war there is ended. Poland therefore demands that Europe be involved in these decisions. (Sources: X, Defense News, Focus Online, Financial Times, dpa, previous reporting)
