Poland seen buying Patriot missiles, Europe helicopters

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland looks set to award a total of $8 billion in military contracts to Raytheon of the United States and Europe's Airbus, local media and industry sources said on Tuesday, striking a transatlantic balance as it faces rising tensions with Russia.

Speculation over the deals rose as President Bronislaw Komorowski, Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz and Poland's defence minister gathered to discuss the modernisation of the country's armed forces.

A press briefing was scheduled for 1400 GMT, but Polish officials declined to elaborate.

Daily Gazeta Wyborcza reported Warsaw had chosen U.S. firm Raytheon, the maker of the Patriot missile, as the supplier of a $5 billion medium-range missile defence system, the largest tender in Poland's military history.

And in what seems likely to be its biggest defence acquisition from western Europe since the end of the Cold War, defence industry sources said Poland appeared close to selecting Airbus for a $3 billion deal for 70 helicopters.

Gazeta Wyborcza said earlier that Poland had selected the Caracal EC725 of Airbus Helicopters as its preferred choice over U.S. and Italian competitors, subject to army testing.

"The Polish government will please the two largest military industry players on the Polish market: the Americans and the French," the newspaper reported.

Poland, a NATO member since 1999, had accelerated the process to select a supplier for the missile system after Russia's intervention in Ukraine prompted concern among NATO members in eastern Europe.

It short-listed Raytheon and a consortium of France's Thales and European group MBDA. In March, the defence ministry said the decision would take weeks.

"Choosing Patriots is not a surprise, because Raytheon was the front-runner from the start," Gazeta Wyborcza reported.

The helicopter decision was seen as more delicate because rival bidders Sikorsky of the United States and AgustaWestland, owned by Italy's Finmeccanica, have factories in Poland.

"Their losing may be linked to a decrease in production and investment in Poland," Gazeta Wyborcza wrote.

Since the end of the Cold War, Poland has usually kept closer defence and security ties with the United States.

But in the past few years policymakers have been lobbying for a stronger security relationship with the rest of Europe, especially after the Obama administration scaled back its missile defence shield in eastern Europe.

Last year, the head of Airbus Helicopters offered Poland a sweeping partnership alongside its core western European nations to support its helicopter bid.

(Editing by Louise Heavens, Tim Hepher)

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