Poland inks $285m deal with Spain’s firm Indra for advanced air radar systems

Poland on Wednesday inked a $285 mln contract for air traffic control systems with Spanish company Indra, the Polish deputy defence minister said, announcing a new bid to boost the country's military capabilities.

The deal is among the contracts worth $520 million in total that Poland announced during the annual international military trade fair in the southern city of Kielce.

"These are systems that are highly anticipated by the Polish army, sought after by our pilots and commanders, as well as by all those who operate military airports," deputy defence minister Pawel Bejda said, quoted by the Polish news agency PAP.

Poland last week announced it would spend 4.7 percent of its annual economic output on defence next year, more than twice NATO's target of two percent.

It has signed a string of military deals in recent years, notably with the United States for Apache attack helicopters and F-35 modern fighter jets.

The radars will help the Polish army to "safely observe the sky so that our aircraft, including the most modern F-35s, can take off and land without disruptions," Bejda added.

The first of the 32 F-35 fighter jets ordered by Warsaw from the United States for $4.6 billion are due to be deployed in Poland from 2026.

Poland, a staunch ally of war-torn neighbouring Ukraine, currently spends around 4 percent of its GDP on defence, compared with the 2 percent required by NATO.

Next year, the government wants to up the defence spending to 4.7 percent, a record figure of around 186 billion zlotys.

Poland's professional army currently has more than 200,000 soldiers, making it the third largest force in NATO after the United States and Turkey.