Poland buys 800 Hellfire missiles to arms its new attack helicopters

WARSAW, Poland — The Polish government has signed a deal to purchase 800 Hellfire II missiles that are to be carried by a new fleet of attack helicopters, with a request to buy Boeing AH-64E Apaches still in the pipeline.

The contract for the sale of the missiles, which are manufactured by Lockheed Martin, was inked by the ministry’s Armament Agency and the United States Army Security Assistance Command (USASAC).

The deal is worth about $150 million, according to officials. Deliveries are slated to begin this year and stretch through 2029.

Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak said in a tweet Tuesday that the weapons are meant to arm “our AW149 support helicopters, and, eventually, the AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopters.”

In July 2022, Poland’s government signed a deal to acquire 32 AW149 helos produced by Italy’s Leonardo. Deliveries of the aircraft are scheduled for the years 2023 to 2029. The contract includes a logistics package, as well as training and simulators.

Also last year, the Polish defense ministry sent a letter of request to the United States government to purchase 96 Boeing AH-64E Apaches. Under the plan, the copters would first be deployed to the military’s 18th Mechanized Division. Based in Siedlce, about 91 km (56.5 miles) east of Poland’s capital Warsaw, the division has been designated a bulwark against a potential Russian invasion, according to local defense officials.

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• Source: https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2023/05/30/poland-buys-800-hellfire-missiles-to-arms-its-new-attack-helicopters/