Poland said on Tuesday it would buy Patriot missiles from the United States and provisionally selected French Airbus Group helicopters as it speeds up the modernisation of its military amid tensions with Russia.
The choice of suppliers, in deals potentially worth $8 billion (£5.4 billion), strikes a trans-Atlantic balance as Eastern Europe's largest economy re-arms itself on Nato's frontline while edging toward a bigger role in Europe's defence industry.
Bronislaw Komorowski, Polish president, said: "For the armed forces' technical modernisation and the Polish armed forces' resilience to be effective, the so-called anti-missile shield ... had to become the priority of priorities."
It plans to buy eight missile batteries by 2025, including two within three years of signing.
Poland accelerated the process to select a supplier for the missile system after Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula last year.
The United States said it welcomed the announcement from its ally.
The programme was expected to "generate at least $2.5 billion in US export content - that means supporting American jobs at home and growing our manufacturing base," said Marie Harf, US State Department spokeswoman.
Since the end of the Cold War, Poland has usually kept closer defense and security ties with the United States.
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