Poland aims to improve its air defense until it is “as safe as Israel,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in Warsaw on Tuesday, after a cabinet meeting on national security.
Tusk noted that Israel has intercepted almost all the missiles and drones that Iran fired at the country this weekend, while Ukraine, Poland’s southern neighbor, can only intercept a third of Russian missiles.
“Our task today is to use every system for defending Polish airspace to make Poland as safe as Israel,” he said. The conclusion that could be drawn was that airspace needed to be controlled to improve Poland’s security, he said.
Tusk added that Poland was interested in participating in Germany’s ‘European Sky Shield’ initiative, under which several European countries would acquire Germany’s Iris-T missiles with the aim of securing European airspace.
Poland has been a staunch military ally of Ukraine over the past two years in its efforts to repel the Russian invasion. It is also a major hub for Western arms supplies to Ukraine. Poland is therefore seen by Russia as a potential enemy.
Germany has supplied Ukraine with Iris-T missile systems and has promised further deliveries.
