NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg visited Poland Monday in his first official country visit since assuming his new role on Oct. 1. Stoltenberg used the visit to reassure the nation that NATO will come to the defense of all its allies following continued Russian aggression in Ukraine. “NATO’s most important task is to protect and defend our nations against attack. We will defend our allies, all allies,” Stoltenberg said. Stoltenberg also reinforced “his commitment to implementing the Wales Summit decisions in full,” according to a NATO statement. During the visit, he met with Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski, Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz, as well as other senior Polish government officials in Warsaw before traveling to Lask Air Base where he met with fighter pilots flying NATO’s Baltic air policing mission. At Lask, Stoltenberg also toured a NATO E-3A airborne warning and control system aircraft and thanked aircrew members for “the important job” they do within the Alliance.
The Air Force on March 12 awarded contract modifications worth a combined $2.4 billion to Boeing to procure an undisclosed number of E-7 Wedgetail as part of the program's engineering and manufacturing development phase and continue work on the airborne battle management aircraft’s radar.