Poland's Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak approved an agreement on Monday to acquire 486 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) missile launchers of US make.
The agreement, greenlit by the Ministry of Defense in February, is valued at about $10 billion, according to the Polish news agency.
The minister, was quoted saying, "With the eighteen missile launchers ordered in 2019 (or a squadron), the Polish Army will have a total of 500 HIMARS launchers distributed across 28 squadrons."
He added that the delivery process is set to commence by the end of 2025.
These launch units, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, will be mounted on domestic chassis and integrated into Polish electronic command systems, with the integration process expected to take two years.
Poland, a neighboring and staunch supporter of Ukraine, is planning to allocate over 4% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to defense, equivalent to $33 billion, in the coming year. This far exceeds the 2% benchmark set by NATO.
Since the onset of the conflict in Ukraine, Warsaw has entered into numerous contracts to procure significant quantities of weaponry, primarily from the United States and South Korea.
In late August, Washington approved a massive contract that includes the sale of 96 Apache attack helicopters to Poland, valued at $12 billion.
Other contracts with the Americans involve the acquisition of 32 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin, 366 Abrams tanks, and Patriot missile defense systems from Raytheon.
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