As tension surrounding the invasion of Ukraine by Russia builds, it is no surprise that Poland continues to sign various contracts with European and US companies to strengthen the country’s air defence capability. This process commenced in January 2020 when Poland and the US State department signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance valued at $4.6 billion for the acquisition of 32 Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II 5th generation fighters. Latterly, attention has turned to the re-equipment of Poland’s rotary force which includes the acquisition of 32 Leonardo Helicopters AW149 battlefield utility helicopters in July 2022 (valued at 8.25 billion PLN/$1.83 billion), and more recently 96 Boeing AH-64E Apache attack helicopters in August 2023 (valued at $12 billion). Preceding these acquisitions was the acquisition of four Leonardo Helicopters AW101 in April 2019 which Ian Harding considers.
