US Congress OKs sale of 500 HIMARS launchers to Poland: defence minister
The US Congress has cleared the sale of nearly 500 HIMARS artillery rocket systems to Poland, the Polish defence minister has announced.
Photo:EPA/HANNIBAL HANSCHKE
“The tacit approval procedure for the US Congress’ notification of a contract for nearly 500 HIMARS launchers for Poland has ended,” Mariusz Błaszczak said in a tweet on Thursday.
„It means that Congress has approved the sale of these state-of-the-art long-range artillery sets to the Polish Armed Forces,” he added, as cited by his ministry.
He announced that „the contract will be finalized soon.”
The announcement came after Błaszczak earlier this month said that the US State Department had approved the sale of around USD 10 billion worth of weaponry to Poland, including nearly 500 HIMARS advanced rocket systems.
Last year, Warsaw signalled its intention to buy 500 more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) from the United States, to add to a previous order for 20 such long-range launchers.
In February 2019, Poland’s government signed a deal to buy 20 HIMARS artillery rocket systems from America for USD 414 million as part of a military modernisation drive.
Poland in March 2019 signed what officials described as a historic deal to buy an American Patriot air defence system for USD 4.75 billion.
Poland plans to increase its defence spending to 4 percent of GDP this year, officials have said, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
(gs)
Source: IAR, PAP
