Washington approved the sale of 96 Apache attack helicopters to Poland this week in a deal worth $12 billion.
The development comes as Poland has already signed contracts to purchase large numbers of tanks, self-propelled howitzers, multiple launch rocket systems and fighter aircraft from South Korea, not to mention M1 Abrams tanks from the United States.
Commenting on Warsaw’s acquisition of the US attack helicopters, Russian military analyst Alexander Mikhailov suggested that Poland’s intent was to upgrade its military capabilities primarily with US-made weapons in order to curry favor with the White House.
“Poland essentially wants to be the US’ ‘second right hand' in the European area, primarily in Eastern Europe,” Mikhailov said, pointing out that the role of the US’ “original right hand” in Europe has been, and always will be, played by Britain.
According to the analyst, the types of American weapons Poland wants to purchase serve, in a way, as a sign of the United States’ favor, since Washington sells them “not to everyone, but only to the most loyal states.”
Regarding the lump sum of money Warsaw would have to fork over to the US for the Apache helicopters, Mikhailov remarked that such deals with the United States usually include not just the weapons themselves but also the cost of training the pilots who would operate them and engineers who would service them, as well as the tech support.
“Americans don’t just sell weapons, they sell an entire service package. That’s why their contracts are the most expensive ones,” he explained. “This is essentially why many countries start to opt-out from US weapon purchases because the US tends to milk its partners dry financially, inflate contracts and generally put their counterparties in a bad spot.”
He also observed that Poland is going to pay for the US weapons “with the money it will then wheedle out from the European Union.”
Thus, the United States will be spurring on the EU who in turn will incentivize Poland as a buffer state that would oppose the so-called “Russian menace,” Mikhailov surmised.
“Under this pretext, additional billions of euros, which Poland will pay the US for weapon shipments, are going to be wasted. So everyone is on the same page, everyone is in on it, everyone is fine – except for the EU’s coffers, of course,” he said. “But no one is asking the Europeans’ opinion on this matter. They are the ones who foot the bill, this is their lot in this moment of history.”
Following the escalation of the Ukrainian conflict last year, Poland moved to beef up its military while simultaneously massing troops on the borders of its neighbors. The massive military parade in Warsaw earlier this month was described by some observers as a symptom of its “imperial revanchism.”
Russian officials have also warned that Poland may be planning to seize a portion of Ukraine’s territory amid the conflict the latter country is currently embroiled in.