Soldiers from the U.S. and Polish armies walk to the site of Patriot missile system near Drawsko Pomorskie, Poland, in 2018. A second U.S. loan to Poland of $2 billion will be used to buy American air and missile defense systems, the Polish Defense Ministry said. (Aaron Good/U.S. Army)
The U.S. will give Poland another $2 billion loan to buy American weapons, the second time in less than a year that a State Department loan program has been used to aid the Polish armed forces’ modernization.
Foreign Military Financing direct loans are rare and reserved for the United States’ most important security cooperation partners, said a Monday statement from the State Department.
Before September 2023, when Poland’s first such $2 billion loan was approved, the last time the State Department had done so was in 2017, when it awarded a Foreign Military Financing loan to Iraq, according to reporting by Defense One.
Polish soldiers in M1 Abrams tanks salute officials during a parade in Warsaw, Poland, on Aug. 15, 2023. Poland was granted a second $2 billion loan from the U.S. for weapons acquisition. The previous loan went toward the purchase of Abrams tanks, F-35 Lightning II jets and other U.S. military hardware. (Joshua Zayas/U.S. Army)
The U.S. has agreed to provide up to $60 million in foreign military financing to subsidize the interest cost of the latest loan, which will help accelerate the procurement process, the State Department said.
The new loan will be used to buy American air and missile defense systems, Poland’s Defense Ministry said in a statement last week.
Some 10,000 American troops are serving in Poland, which has taken on growing significance as NATO counters Russian aggression in neighboring Ukraine. Last year, the U.S. Army established a garrison in Poznan, giving Poland its first permanent American military outpost.
U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Raymond Lemmert, right, briefs Polish air force Lt. Col. Pawal Muzyczuk, left, and Lt. Col. Rafal Zawadka on F-35 maintenance operations in 2022 at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz. Poland will receive its second $2 billion loan from the U.S. in less than a year to modernize its armed forces with American weaponry. (Dominic Tyler/U.S. Air Force)
Polish leaders have branded Russia an existential threat and in recent years have approved the spending of billions of dollars to boost the country’s military capabilities.
The modernization has included purchases of American F-35 airplanes, Patriot missile systems and Abrams main battle tanks.
“Poland is a stalwart U.S. ally, and this deal will further strengthen NATO’s eastern flank,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday.
The country currently spends 4% of its gross domestic product on defense, the highest percentage of any NATO member.
“The United States remains our main foreign partner in the modernization of the Polish armed forces,” the Defense Ministry statement said.
