MANILA, Philippines — Poland has a variety of weapons systems and military hardware to help the Philippines modernize its armed forces, including "fighting" drones, Polish Secretary of State Wladyslaw Teofil Bartoszewski said.
In an interview with The Manila Times, Bartoszewski said Poland would be "very happy to share" these options when asked about Poland's plans to help the Philippines modernize its military.
He said that his government was "happy to be the provider of Blackhawk helicopters that were produced in Poland." He said the last Black Hawk dispatches "just landed a week ago here in the Philippines."
The Philippines in 2022 acquired 32 S-70i Black Hawk helicopters from Polish Sikorsky subsidiary PZL Mielec worth P32 billion. The Philippine Air Force completed the acquisition program with a final batch delivery of seven choppers in August 2026.
"We are happy to provide other weapons systems. We discussed that today very briefly," Bartoszewski said referring to his meeting with Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro on Tuesday.
Bartoszewski said that a group of Filipino military officials met with their Polish counterparts to further discuss defense cooperation.
"That’s going to continue. They are of course the best people to ask what they want so we can provide. We have enough systems which we are selling at the moment from reconnaissance and fighting drones," he said.
"We have a very successful handheld anti aircraft weapons. We've got weapons (for) dispersing mines. We've produced handheld howitzers. We are producing mine fighting warships and which is of potential interest for the Philippines," he said.
"We also want to cooperate in cyber security which is also a new type of warfare which attacks not only the military but also critical infrastructure, [such as] energy infrastructure, but also hospitals," Bartoszewski said.
