In Russia’s gun sights, Poland spends big on rearming ‘revolution’

Neighbouring Ukraine’s experience prompts a drive to modernise and strengthen armed forces

CHRISTMAS came early for Captain Marek Adamiak and the troops of Poland’s 11th Artillery Regiment.

Stationed not far from the Russian border, the unit has long grappled with outdated kit.

But in mid-December, they received 24 South Korean-made K9 self-pro- pelled howitzers that can hit targets up to 34 miles away, bringing new and deadly capabilities to the regiment.

“As an artillery officer I’m excited by the new equipment,” Capt Adamiak told The Sunday Telegraph. “We can manoeuvre better, we can shoot from anywhere. There is no place we can’t shoot from. We had a lot of old artillery but now we have very new weapons.”

With war raging in neighbouring Ukraine, it has given the regiment the confidence that if conflict came to their doorstep, they would now have the weapons to fight back.

“We can see from the way Ukrainians use artillery that they need to be very fast: into action, fire and move on,” said Capt Adamiak.

The 24 guns now in his regiment’s possession are just a small part of a massive defence spending programme by Poland.

Spurred on by the growing fear that Poland could one day be in the sights of a Kremlin looking to return to the days when the Russian empire stretched to the River Vistula, the Polish government is determined to arm up – and fast.

This year it will spend 4 per cent of its GDP on defence, an amount double the Nato requirement, and one that will make Poland the alliance’s biggest spender per capita on defence.

Some of the deals for arms predate the Ukraine war, when Poland, already conscious of the Russian threat, started to revamp armed forces still burdened with a lot of Soviet-era equipment.

But Vladimir Putin’s invasion turbocharged the process, and prompted a host of new contracts.

“The criminal assault by the Russian Federation, targeting Ukraine, and the unpredictable nature of Putin means we need to accelerate equipment modernisation even further,” Mariusz Blaszczak, the Polish defence minister, told the Defence24 portal.

“It is of key importance to increase the levels of security as fast as possible for Poland. We can do this only by creating a strong military. Strong enough to

deter any potential aggressor.”

No one can doubt Poland’s ambition. To start with, it has placed orders for 1,000 K2 main battle tanks from South Korea, and 250 brand new M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams tanks from the United States.

This will turn Poland into the owner of Europe’s biggest tank force, dwarfing the UK’s fleet of 227. Its artillery will be bolstered by the arrival of 600 K9s, 18 HIMARS launchers with 9,000 rockets, and 288 K239 Chunmoo MRL systems from South Korea.

More than 1,000 Polish-made Borsuk infantry fighting vehicles will carry troops into battle, while air cover will come from 96 AH-64E Apache helicopters from the US and 48 FA-50 combat aircraft now on order from South Korea.

“We are changing our equipment very, very quickly,” said Capt Adamiak. “It really is revolution, not evolution.”

All of this will be underscored by plans to double the size of the army to 300,000, which would turn Poland into Europe’s biggest military power, in terms of manpower, west of Ukraine.

The equipment, however, comes with a hefty price tag. Poland has enjoyed years of economic growth, and GDP is still predicted to grow this year despite the effects of the war in Ukraine, but the cost of its defence spending is going to be substantial.

Poland plans to spend to spend some £85billion by 2035 on weapons, and this year’s defence budget stands at a record £18billion. But Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, a Polish newspaper, estimates that could increase to £24billion.

Magdalena Jakubowska, a defence expert and vice president of Res Publica-Visegrad Insight, a foundation covering Central European politics, said: “I fear that all of this spending could drain the budget, if not properly managed.”

Meanwhile, the European Commission has denied Poland access to £30 billion in grants and cheap loans from the EU’s post-pandemic Recovery and Resilience Facility because of a dispute over the rule of law. The Polish government has introduced legislation to resolve the deadlock but for the time being the money remains out of reach.

Last year, the US Congress approved £239million in military financing to “deter and defend” against the increased threat from Russia. But with inflation at 17 per cent and economic growth slowing, the defence budget could still become difficult to meet.

Ms Jakubowska said that so far, Poles seem prepared to shoulder the financial burden. “With war, perhaps, just around the corner, Poles realise you have to sacrifice to take care of the national interest,” she added. “If people fear a war, then they are understanding.”