The $6.2b deal with Lockheed sparks outcry from not just European governments but also American unions

Underlining their growing friendship, Poland has signed a US$3.5 billion (S$6.2 billion) deal with the United States for the supply of 48 American-made Lockheed Martin jet fighters. It was the largest such contract involving a former Soviet-bloc country since the end of the Cold War. The deal was also striking because it included what appeared to be the largest so-called offset deal ever. It confirmed Warsaw as a pivotal member of US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's pro-American 'new Europe', as opposed to the 'old Europeans' led by France and Germany who were against the war in Iraq, said the Guardian newspaper. Apart from the British, the Poles were the only Europeans to join the Americans in combat in Iraq. The deal, which was under discussion for months after an initial accord was signed in December, is a key element in Poland's efforts to modernise its armed forces and replace its ageing Russian-built MiG fighters to meet the standards of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, which Poland joined in 1999.