BREAKING NEWS

Poland resumes missile defense talks with US Lockheed

WARSAW - Poland has relaunched talks with Lockheed Martin's MEADS on a medium-range air- and missile-defense system, the deputy defense minister was quoted as saying in comments published on Thursday.
The tender, whose value defense officials estimate at around $5 billion, is central to Warsaw's large-scale army modernization program, speeded up in response to the Ukraine crisis and Russia's renewed assertiveness in the region.
Poland had previously excluded the U.S. Lockheed-led consortium from the tender, short-listing two contenders: a consortium of European group MBDA and France's Thales SA , and US firm Raytheon Co, as potential suppliers.
Last year, Poland's former center-right government announced it would purchase Raytheon's Patriot system, a decision which the Law and Justice (PiS) party, then in opposition but now in government, said it would review should it come to power.