Poland A.M.
August 6, 2013
Poland to contribute €40 million to NATO drone program
Poland will join NATO’s plan to buy drones, a source in the organization’s headquarters told Polska The Times. The country has already paid some money into the program, the source said.
The total value of NATO’s drone purchase will be €1.3 billion and Poland’s total share is likely to be at least €40 million, the newspaper reports. The program is to be in operation by 2017. NATO wants to buy five drones, and so far, excluding Poland, 14 countries have committed to the program.
So far, 14 countries have officially joined NATO’s drone program. Poland was interested, but withdrew due to high expected costs. According to sources, it became interested again when the costs were cut.
Poland’s input in the NATO drone program will amount to approximately 3 percent of the whole budget earmarked for the operation. It’s similar to the sum that Poland pays for the NATO AWACS (airborne early warning and control) system. In comparison, the US pays 38 percent of the budget for AWACS. NATO wants to buy the drones because it doesn’t have any of its own, and in operations like the one in Afghanistan, is forced to use US-owned ones unmanned vehicles.
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