Europe has been urged to funnel billions into an Israeli-style "Iron Dome" defence system as a matter of urgency amid mounting concerns over threats from the East.
Poland's Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, said he and other leaders would table plans for the £3.4billion-valued European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI) - of which Britain is part - to the European Council and Commission in just days.
Tusk said: "Creating an Iron Dome against missiles and drones is necessary... The recent attack on Israel showed how essential such systems are.
"There is no reason for Europe not to have its missile defence shield.
Tusk said it would not take much imagination to figure out the source of an air attack on Europe
Reuters
"We will take advantage of these European opportunities because... Europe's security depends largely on Poland's security."
In an allusion to threats posed by Russia, Tusk added that it would not take much imagination to figure out the source of an air attack on Europe.
His remarks came as Poland signed a more than £250million-valued contract with the European Investment Bank (EIB) in order to get to work on its part of the ESSI.
The continental defence system had first been proposed in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz amid concerns over European air defence capabilities which persist to this day.
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The Iron Dome works by identifying and intercepting airborne rockets and artillery shells mid-air before they can hit civilian targets
GettyBut in Poland, senior government figures are at odds over the project; last month, Tusk and President Andrzej Duda clashed over whether Warsaw should join the ESSI as their fractious relationship spilled into issues of national security.
The PM had talked up the initiative to reporters, but Duda described ESSI as a "German business project" that Poland hadn't given any thought to joining as it was pursuing its own initiatives alongside the United States and Britain.
While Duda oversees the armed forces, decisions about arms purchases are made by the government, which Tusk leads, and cannot be blocked by the president.
Tusk said that Polish generals and the head of the National Security Bureau Jacek Siewiera, who reports to Duda, had told him it was a good idea for Poland to be part of several air defence projects.
Tusk has stressed the importance of warding off Putin's Russia on Nato's Eastern flank
ReutersAnd Polish leaders aren't the only ones pushing for further air defence; at the beginning of May, former US national security adviser General HR McMaster called on the UK to develop its own version of Israel's high-tech missile defence system.
The Israeli tech works by identifying and intercepting airborne rockets and artillery shells mid-air before they can hit civilian targets in cities and other population centres.
The embattled country is the only state which uses such a system - and it proved decisive in April when Israel faced down a barrage of Iranian drone and missile attacks, with dramatic footage circulating online of explosions punctuating the night sky as the Iron Dome countered the attacks.
And this week's defence pledge by Tusk follows another promise made mere days earlier - a staggering £2billion to a large-scale defence project to shore up its borders against Russia and Belarus.
