US provides further $4bn military financing loan guarantee to Poland
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The United States has announced an additional $4 billion loan guarantee to support defence procurement by Poland. The US has now provided over $11 billion in such Foreign Military Financing (FMF) within the last two years, including two $2 billion loans announced in September 2023 and July 2024.
“Today’s announcement underscores the United States’ steadfast commitment to Poland’s security and to the continued strengthening of NATO,” said the US State Department in a statement.
“Together, the United States and Poland are working to ensure a secure and stable future for the region, with a focus on collective defence, strategic partnership, and regional stability,” they added, noting that FMF loans are offered to the US’s “closest and most trusted allies”.
The State Department says that the financing will be used for “accelerating Poland’s military modernisation, enhancing a wide range of defense capabilities, and bolstering NATO’s deterrence and defense posture along its Eastern Flank”.
„US is today providing an additional $4 billion Foreign Military Financing (FMF) loan guarantee to Poland, bringing the total value of U.S. loans and loan guarantees to Poland to just over $11 billion within the last two years”.https://t.co/tjfaa6t6IT
— Tomasz Bielecki (@TomaszBielecki) December 5, 2024
Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Poland’s deputy prime minister and defence minister, welcomed the news.
“We have another loan agreement with the US to help finance the rapid transformation of the Polish armed forces,” he wrote on X. “This is further proof of the great trust and strong alliance between Poland and the US.”
The US ambassador to Poland, Mark Brzezinski, meanwhile, echoed the State Department in saying that the agreement underscores the Washington’s “unwavering commitment to Poland’s security”.
“Together, we are building a safer future for Poland, the region, and the [NATO] Alliance as a whole,” he wrote on X.
In this episode of the VoiCEE podcast, we discuss what the return of Donald Trump means for Ukraine and Poland.
Our new host @JoshuaCoe speaks with Anastasiia Herasymchuk of @ukraine_world and @danieltilles1 from @notesfrompolandhttps://t.co/NeyZp9ZELc
— News from Central and Eastern Europe (@NewsFromCEE) December 2, 2024
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Poland has embarked on an unprecedented military spending spree. It has increased its defence budget to 4.12% of GDP this year, by far the highest relative level in NATO. The figure is planned to rise to 4.7% in 2025.
A major portion of the defence spending has gone to US producers, with Poland signing deals for, among other things, Apache helicopters, Abrams tanks, HIMARS artillery launchers, Patriot missile defence systems, and radar reconnaissance airships.
Poland has also made large-scale purchases from South Korea, including K239 Chunmoo rocket artillery launchers, FA-50 light combat aircraft, K2 tanks, and K9 self-propelled howitzers.
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: NATO/Flickr (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.
