US to provide Poland with Apache helicopters

The US will provide Poland with eight Apache helicopters until Poland receives those which it has ordered, said Poland’s Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczakon Friday after a meeting with the US defense secretary in Washington on Friday, Report informs, citing The First News.

Mariusz Błaszczak said during a press briefing after his meeting with US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin that the US would provide the eight helicopters even before a contract for Poland's purchase of 96 helicopters was signed. The helicopters would be used to strengthen the so-called Brest gate (southwest Belarus on the Polish border).

He also pointed out that US ground forces would begin the training of Polish pilots within a few weeks and that the Apaches were important because "they work very well with Abrams (tanks – PAP) and because they will be sent to the eastern flank of NATO" where they would constitute an "impenetrable dam."