RITCHIE B. TONGO/PAP/EPA

The US Department of State has approved the potential sale to Poland of AH-64E Apache helicopters and related equipment in a deal worth up to USD 12 billion, the Pentagon has reported.

According to the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency, Poland plans to purchase 96 Apache attack helicopters and related equipment, including 1,844 AGM-114R2 Hellfire missiles and 508 Stinger missiles.

The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency also wrote that the potential sale would support the aims of the US foreign and defence policy by means of increasing the security of a Nato ally which has been working for political stability and economic progress in Europe.

Poland’s Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak announced the plan to place an offer for the purchase of Apache helicopters last year. During his recent visit to the US, Blaszczak said that the US land forces would provide Poland with eight Apache helicopters until Poland had received those which it had ordered.

When asked at that time why Apache helicopters were so important, Blaszczak said that “they work very well with Abrams (tanks – PAP) and because they will be sent to the eastern flank of Nato where, together with Abrams tanks, they would close the so called Brzesc gate (southwest Belarus on the Polish border.