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"It is an extraordinary, historic moment; it is Poland's
introduction into a whole new world of state-of-the-art
technology, modern weaponry, and defensive means," Poland's
President Andrzej Duda said during the signing ceremony.
NATO member Poland has sped up efforts to overhaul its armory
following Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in
2014 and Moscow's renewed military and political assertiveness
in the region. Two-thirds of Polish weaponry dates from the era
when the country was in the Moscow-led Warsaw Pact.
The Patriot deal comes as a relief for Poland which remains in
tense relations with Washington, its main NATO ally, over a bill
that Warsaw introduced in January to impose jail terms for any
suggestion of Poland's complicity in the Holocaust.
The United States says the bill subverts freedom of speech.
Israeli officials say it amounts to Holocaust denial, an
accusation Poland rejects.
The Wednesday deal is for four Patriot fire units, and Warsaw is
negotiating with Washington to buy more Patriot systems, a new
360-degree radar and a low-cost interceptor missile as part of a
second phase of development.
"We do expect that Poland will move pretty quickly with Phase
II. They have a stated desire to complete that by the end of the
year," Wes Kremer, president of Raytheon Integrated Defense
Systems, told Reuters in a telephone interview ahead of the
signing.
The deal will allow Poland to conduct air and missile defense
operations with NATO allies the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and
Greece, which already have the Patriot systems, U.S. State
Department officials have said.
(Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal in Berlin; Writing by
Lidia Kelly; Editing by Peter Graff)
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