He said in a tweet that the signing ceremony would take place in Dęblin, eastern Poland, on Friday.
The announcement comes after the US Congress in September cleared the sale of 32 F-35 fighter jets to Poland in what Błaszczak said was “one of the last steps before the contract can be concluded.”
“But this is not the end of our work,” he tweeted at the time. “We will be negotiating hard to secure the best possible price.”
Earlier that month the US Department of State approved the sale of 32 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, produced by American company Lockheed Martin, and related equipment and support, for an estimated cost of USD 6.5 billion, according to the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA).
The agency said that the planned deal aimed to “provide Poland with a credible defense capability to deter aggression in the region and ensure interoperability with U.S. forces."
The “proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by improving the security of a NATO ally which is an important force for political stability and economic progress in Europe," the DSCA said in a statement.
It added that the sale "is consistent with U.S. initiatives to provide key allies in the region with modern systems that will enhance interoperability with U.S. forces and increase security."
Poland's Błaszczak said last year that the purchase of the F-35 jets would be "the most important contract in the history of the Polish armed forces."
Meanwhile, the US ambassador to Poland, Georgette Mosbacher, hailed the planned deal as “another important step in Polish-US relations.”
“We are stronger together,” she tweeted in September.
In February last year, Poland's government signed a deal to buy 20 HIMARS artillery rocket systems from America for USD 414 million as part of a military modernisation drive.
Poland in March 2018 signed what officials described as a historic deal to buy an American Patriot air defence system for USD 4.75 billion.
Meanwhile, the Polish president in October 2017 signed into law plans to steadily increase the country’s defence spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2030.
(gs)
Source: TVP Info, IAR