POLISH DEFENSE MINISTER PLACES CONDITIONS ON

S E C R E T WARSAW 000894 SIPDIS EUR/CE FOR GLANTZ, OSD FOR MITCHEL E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/01/2019 TAGS: PREL MAPP MARR PL SUBJECT: POLISH DEFENSE MINISTER PLACES CONDITIONS ON MILITARY PROCUREMENT FROM U.S. Classified By: Political Counselor F. Daniel Sainz, for reasons 1.4 b a nd d. ¶1. (C) SUMMARY AND COMMENT. While at the International Defense Trade Show in Kielce August 31, Polish Defense Minister Bogdan Klich pointedly told U.S. vendors that Poland and the United States needed to improve their political relationship, or Poland would look to Europe and other suppliers such as Israel for its defense procurement needs. Although Polish CHOD General Franciszek Gagor visited with DOD representatives at the official U.S. display, Klich seemed to purposely avoid contact with the official American delegation. National Security Advisor Jones's September 1 meeting outside Gdansk with Foreign Minister Sikorski should help reassure the Poles that high-level consultations are in train, but the Poles will continue to press for deliverables. END SUMMARY AND COMMENT. ¶2. (C) Over thirty U.S. vendors are represented at the annual defense equipment show in Kielce, augmented this year by a U.S. Army display on the 21st Century Soldier. During his tour of the vendor pavilion, Minister Klich stopped at Sikorsky Helicopters, Raytheon, and Boeing. At each booth he delivered a similar message. He stressed that his dissatisfaction was not about business or technology, but about "this Administration's" policies towards Poland. Klich said that the GOP was looking to receive signals that the U.S. would improve relations with Poland. Klich told all three U.S. vendors that without a "warming" on the part of the U.S. Administration, Poland would take its business to Europe and/or countries like Israel. ¶3. (C) Klich told the Boeing representative that the U.S. was talking to Russia more than it was to Poland. He told Raytheon that Poland would not consider purchasing Patriot until a fully operational U.S. Patriot battery had arrived on Polish soil (a view General Gagor reiterated two hours later). Klich pointedly avoided other U.S. displays. Klich walked up to the official U.S. display but did not acknowledge the presence of the American officers there. ¶4. (C) COMMENT. Klich would be unlikely to issue such a strong warning without clear guidance from FM Radoslaw Sikorski and PM Donald Tusk. The GOP may feel that it has to explore every avenue of communication -- in this case having U.S. industry inform their affected U.S. Congressional delegations (as Sikorsky Helicopter has already told us it will do). Polish dissatisfaction with U.S. handling of the delegation to the September 1 WWII anniversary in Gdansk seems to have exacerbated concerns that have accumulated during the past year. Polish grievances were diminished when National Security Advisor Jones agreed to head the U.S. delegation, and then held a productive meeting outside Gdansk with Sikorski and other top MFA and MOD officials. However, the Poles are still anxious to hold high-level consultations with the U.S. that produce "more than words," according to FM Sikorski. END COMMENT. ASHE