The US State Department has approved the potential sale of an Integrated Air and Missile Defence Battle Command System to Poland for an estimated cost of US$4 billion, the Pentagon said on Monday.

The State Department announced its approval Wednesday after notifying Congress of the proposed sale. Unless Congress acts to block the deal, Poland can begin contract negotiations with suppliers led by Raytheon Technologies Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp. under the Foreign Military Sales program. Those negotiations sometimes take years and result in the purchase of smaller quantities at a lower total cost.

As it aims to upgrade its air defenses, the Pentagon said NATO-ally Poland had requested to buy phase two of a two-phase program for the command system enabled PATRIOT Configuration-3 with modernized sensors and components.

According to the Pentagon, the sale would include 93 of the system's engagement operation centres, 175 fire control network relays, and other ancillary hardware.

European interest in American weaponry has increased with demand centered around such supplies as munitions, air defenses, communications equipment, shoulder-fired Javelin missiles, and drones which have proven critical to Ukraine's war efforts.

The principal contractor for the missile defense system will be Northrup Grumman, the Pentagon said in a statement.

Over the past three decades, the relationship between the United States and Poland has been close and cooperative. The United States strongly supported Poland’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1999 and backed its entry into the European Union (EU) in 2004.

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Poland has been a pioneer in Europe and NATO in assisting Ukraine. One of the top military aid donors to Ukraine is Poland, which also acts as the key conduit for international aid's logistics and transit.

Image source: Reuters