Britain and Poland will expand cooperation on integrated air and missile defence following a Downing Street meeting between Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Polish President Karol Nawrocki on 13 January 2026. The Ministry of Defence said the package includes joint training, co‑development and procurement exploration, and steps to increase European manufacturing capacity for air‑defence systems.
Training will shift heavily into virtual and synthetic environments to improve coordination without the cost and risk of live firing, delivered through the UK‑led NATO initiative Delivering Integrated Air and Missile Operational Networked Defences (DIAMOND). The Commons Library describes DIAMOND’s role as improving integration across allied air and missile defence.
Government answers to Parliament indicate DIAMOND is focusing on procedural solutions that enable ‘Day Zero’ integration and interoperability among NATO forces, including joint synthetic exercise opportunities and a shared understanding of command‑and‑control links agreed with participating nations in October 2025.
Rotary‑wing cooperation will deepen under NATO Flight Training Europe. From this summer, eight Polish military helicopter pilots will begin training in the UK, joined by two experienced Polish instructors posted to RAF Shawbury for a full rotational tour. RAF Shawbury’s No. 1 Flying Training School trains UK and international helicopter aircrew on Juno HT1 and Jupiter HT1 platforms, and will provide advanced training to prepare pilots for future attack helicopter roles. Poland joined the NFTE framework in 2025, widening access to accredited campuses and shared standards.
The announcement aligns with NATO’s posture on the eastern flank. After Russian drones violated Polish airspace in September 2025, NATO launched Operation Eastern Sentry; UK Typhoon jets have since flown air‑defence sorties over Poland. The UK currently has more than 350 personnel in Poland, with British and Polish pilots flying together under Eastern Sentry to protect allied airspace.
Industrial cooperation is part of the package. London and Warsaw will explore the development and procurement of new counter‑air capabilities and encourage new manufacturing capacity in Europe. The Ministry of Defence estimates that UK–Polish defence industrial collaboration has been worth around £8 billion to the UK over the past three years.
Ministers set the agreement against a rising defence budget. Downing Street committed in February 2025 to raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by April 2027-described as the largest sustained increase since the Cold War-while the Ministry of Defence characterises total defence spending this Parliament as £270 billion.
For UK policy, the practical effect is clearer day‑one interoperability in air and missile defence, greater helicopter training throughput via NFTE, and intent to build European manufacturing capacity-changes that underpin NATO’s Eastern Sentry posture and ongoing AWACS surveillance over the eastern flank. Immediate milestones to watch are the summer 2026 arrival of Polish trainees and the next DIAMOND synthetic training packages.