#DEFENSE

British Typhoon fighters based in Poland and Portuguese F-16s from Estonia were scrambled for the ‘first time’ in response to abnormal behavior by a Russian aircraft, NATO’s Allied Air Command reported.

Ukraine has asked the European Union for support in developing its own long-range air defense system, officials have said.

Europe must remove borrowing limits for defense spending or face the prospect of war with Russia, Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė told Reuters on Tuesday.

Officials said the first missiles could be built within three years.

Poland is to ban photography of thousands of sites, including ports, railways, bridges and government offices, under sweeping new national defense laws aimed at preventing espionage.

Poland’s finance minister has called for urgent agreement on EU loans to support member states’ defense spending.

Polish explosives maker Nitro-Chem signed a deal on Wednesday to supply explosives worth 1.2 billion zlotys ($310 million) to a U.S. firm, intended for the U.S. military, the deputy defence minister said.

The U.S. is reviewing its “military structure” in Europe but has not yet decided whether its military presence will be cut in Poland or elsewhere on the continent, the Pentagon said.

The U.S. sent an additional 20,000 troops to Europe in 2022.

The U.S. said it will move troops from a Ukraine support hub in southern Poland.

Croatia plans to boost defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 and to 3% by 2030, it said on Tuesday, the latest European member of NATO to pledge higher military spending amid pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump.

The hub near Rzeszów is key for the flow of aid to Ukraine.

Poland wants to spend 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defense in 2026, Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Thursday after a meeting of his EU counterparts in Warsaw.

Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius spoke at an EU Security Forum in Warsaw.

Poland and the Baltic states also want to withdraw from the 1997 convention.

The Polish prime minister urged the U.S. to think before imposing tariffs.

A ceasefire in Ukraine would be used by Moscow as an opportunity to rearm and redeploy forces to the north, raising the security threat to the Baltic states, defense ministers from Estonia and Lithuania have warned.

Six Swedish Gripen multirole combat aircraft and six British Eurofighter Typhoons have landed in northern Poland to take part in NATO deterrence operations.

The group includes dozens of troops, heavy equipment, and scuba divers

The country is increasing military spending amid fears of Russian aggression.