US to station forces in Poland for first time

WASHINGTON - Agence France-Presse

The Pentagon said yesterday it plans to send a U.S. air force detachment to Poland to support fighter jets and transport planes, marking the first time that U.S. soldiers have been stationed there. The announcement was made at the end of talks between US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and his Polish counterpart Tomasz Siemoniak. The detachment “will arrive this fall to support quarterly F-16 and C-130 deployments beginning in 2013 and will be the first U.S. forces stationed on Polish soil,” Pentagon spokesman George Little said in a statement. “The arrival of this detachment will mark a new step forward in the relationship between United States and Poland and enable closer military cooperation.” US F-16 fighter jets and Hercules transport aircraft are to be deployed in Poland on a rotating basis as of next year, the statement said. The ministers also discussed Poland’s contribution to the international force in Afghanistan, where nearly 2,500 Polish troops are stationed in the eastern province of Ghazni, and Warsaw’s participation in NATO missile defense. Poland and Romania are each expected to host a ballistic missile interceptor site by 2018. Turkey is to host an early warning radar system.

US plans to sale 60 Patriot missiles to Kuwait
The Pentagon also said on July 25 it planned to sell 60 Patriot missiles to Kuwait in a deal worth an estimated $4.2 billion, as the emirate tries to bolster its defenses against the threat from Iran.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), which is in charge of U.S. weapon sales to foreign countries, notified the U.S. Congress of the intended sale on July 20, the agency said in a statement on its website. Congress has 30 days to raise any objections it may have. If nothing is said, the contract is deemed valid after that waiting period.