WARSAW: Poland on Wednesday signed a $285 mln agreement for air traffic control systems with Spanish company Indra, said the Polish deputy defence minister.
The deal is among the contracts amounting to $520 million in total that Poland made during the yearly global military trade fair in the southern city of Kielce.
“These are systems that are highly anticipated by the Polish army, sought after by our pilots and commanders, as well as by all those who operate military airports,” deputy defence minister Pawel Bejda said, quoted by the Polish media.
Poland last week said it would spend 4.7 percent of its annual economic budget on defence next year, more than double NATO’s target of two percent.
It has inked a string of military agreements in recent years, notably with the United States for F-35 modern fighter jets and Apache attack helicopters.
Bejda added the radars will help the Polish army to observe the sky so that its aircraft, including the most modern F-35s, can take off and land without any interruptions.
The first batch of the 32 F-35 fighter jets ordered by Poland from the United States for $4.6 billion is expected to be delivered to the country in 2026.
Poland, a staunch ally of Ukraine, currently spends around four per cent of its GDP on defence, compared with the two percent required by NATO.
Next year, the Polich government wants to increase defence spending to 4.7 percent, a record figure of around 186 billion zlotys.
Poland’s army currently has more than 200,000 soldiers, making it the third largest military in NATO after the United States and Turkey.
