Defense News:
WASHINGTON — Poland announced a two-phased plan to buy a missile defense system from the U.S. in a memorandum of intent that makes political headway but is no closer to minting an actual deal than it was earlier this year when the country said it would buy Patriot missile defense systems by the year’s end.
Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz disclosed the memo signed by Bartosz Kownacki, Poland’s deputy minister of defense, and U.S. Vice Adm. J.W. Rixey, the director of the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency, during a Thursday press briefing in Poland on the heels of a quick visit to Warsaw by U.S. President Donald Trump, who praised the Poles for wanting to buy Patriot.
The discussion between Poland and the U.S. government regarding the purchase of the Raytheon-made Patriot system seemed to have hit a roadblock in June, according to several Polish reports, due to technology transfer issues and delivery timeline hurdles…
