Poland spent $4.7 billion on 48 American-built F-16 fighters, but in the event of a conflict with Russia, the safest place for the warplanes would be on a German airfield, quips a defence analyst. Threadbare Soviet-era air defences would be unable to protect Poland against an attack. With neighbouring Ukraine in turmoil, Warsaw is more acutely aware of its vulnerability than at any moment since the end of the cold war. The defence ministry recently decided that it only wants systems that have been deployed by other nato members in its tender to build a modern short and medium-range air defence system. This leaves just two bidders: America's Raytheon with its updated Patriot system and France's Eurosam, a consortium of Thales and mbda.
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