Missle Shield - still cooking

Brushing aside US criticism, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Friday that Washington must provide financial aid for the Polish armed forces if it wants to deploy a missile shield on Polish territory. Tusk told reporters that the missile shield, which Washington says is necessary to protect it from attacks by rogue states like Iran or North Korea, will only be installed if Poland's security is strengthened.

He said he expected "a concrete offer" from the United States in July. Earlier, Polish media quoted a high-ranking US diplomat as saying Poland was seeking too much and should invest more of its own money in the armed forces.

Warsaw wants Washington to help it modernize its antiquated air defence system. The US has allocated 27 million dollars for this in its 2009 budget and President George W Bush has pledged an additional 20 million dollars.

Poland's demands are estimated at several billion dollars.

Tusk said his country and the US had differing views on the benefits of the missile defence system for the security of Central Europe.

Poland wants the US to help it upgrade its armed forces so they will be in a position to cope with the changing security situation and counter potential terrorist attacks on the US installations.