Minister of Defense Mariusz Błaszczak made a visit to Washington to discuss the details of the Polish purchase of 250 M1A2 Abrams tanks with United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Błaszczak said he considered his Wednesday meeting with Austin to have been very fruitful.
“I can even say that when we were leaving the building with the secretary of defense, he told me that he was pleased that our meeting had a concrete character. We talked about cooperation, tightening Polish-American defense relations and equipping the Polish army with modern equipment,” he said.
The minister added that from the American point of view, adding the Abrams tanks to the Polish military was a justified move as it built interoperability between Poland and American forces.
The US secretary of the army will visit Poland at the end of October to finalize the details of the Abrams tank deal.
“Everything points to the first Abrams units joining the equipment of the Polish Army as early as next year,” Błaszczak said.
Poland’s interest in purchasing 250 M1A2 Abrams tanks in their most modern SE-Pv3 edition has been known since July when Błaszczak announced the purchase.
The Polish military has made a multi-billion purchase of 250 US Abrams tanks to strengthen the army in Eastern Poland. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
The tanks are to be stationed in Eastern Poland and comprise the equipment of the 18th Mechanized Division. The government program for their purchase along with the training and logistics package will cost €5.12 billion.
During the meeting with Austin, minister Błaszczak also presented Poland’s evaluation of the hybrid attack which is taking place on the Polish-Belarusian border which is also the EU’s Eastern border.
According to Błaszczak, Austin responded by saying that the United States “understood the problem very well.”
“After all, one needs only refer to the USA’s experiences on its Southern border, although the events there have a slightly different character. I underline that the hybrid attack against Poland is being carried out by the authorities of a neighboring country which has been proven by evidence known to public opinion,” evaluated the Polish defense minister.
Despite the defense minister’s claims, there is ample evidence that the U.S. administration is actually actively facilitating the border crisis with Mexico.
