“The war in Ukraine forces us to buy weapons as soon as possible,” Reuters quoted Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki as saying this week. Last spring, Poland’s parliament passed a national defense law requiring it to spend at least 3% of GDP this year (up from 2.43% last year), but the now-passed 2023 budget has increased that figure by another percent. Until now, of all NATO countries, proportionally, they spent the most on defense
Greece (3.76% of GDP) and the United States (3.47% of GDP), but 20 of the 30 member states did not allocate even the 2% of GDP to it, which was supposedly agreed upon within NATO more than ten years ago.
During the last few months, Poland has concluded several impressive contracts for the supply of armaments. Last year, it signed an agreement to buy 250 Abrams M1A2 tanks from the United States. They will begin to be delivered only in 2025, but in January of this year, Poland bought another 116 “Abrams M1A1” tanks from the Americans, and Warsaw will receive them already this year, “Deutsche Welle” reports. Agreements have also been reached on the purchase of Patriot air defense systems, HIMARS missile launchers and F-35 fighter jets from the Americans. The specific parameters of these agreements (how much relevant armaments Poland will receive and then they will be delivered) are not officially disclosed.
Also, Poland has made large-scale purchases on the South Korean arms market, purchasing 180 “K2 Black Panther” tanks and 48 K9 howitzers – the first weapons under these contracts have already been delivered to Poland. At the intent level, agreements have been signed for the purchase of more than 800 K2PL tanks and 600 K9 howitzers. In addition, and what is very important, it is expected that in 2026 these weapons will begin to be produced in Polish factories under a license from South Korea, which means both new jobs and the training of specialists in the relevant field, as well as the fact that taxpayers’ funds invested in armaments will not flow out of the country and continue to warm the Polish economy. In addition, there are opportunities to export these weapons (with Seoul’s permission, of course) in the future. Poland is also going to buy 48 FA-50 light fighters from South Korea.
Along with the provision of armaments, Poland also takes care of increasing the numerical composition of the army. Since 2009, this country has had only a professional army and the Territorial Defense Forces (WOT), which is an analogue of the volunteer unit – the Latvian National Guard. Poland is not going to return to mandatory conscription, but according to Defense Minister Mariusz Blaščak, a campaign aimed at attracting new recruits to the army will gain momentum this year. There are currently about 128,000 military personnel in the professional army, and about 36,000 volunteers in the ranks of the WOT. Blaščak mentioned 250,000 professional soldiers and 50,000 national guardsmen as long-term goals. “Anadolu” states that this would make the Polish army the largest in the entire European Union. Currently, that honor goes to France, which has around 200,000 military personnel on active duty.
The Polish internet news site “Onet” claimed in January that the soldier’s profession is still not prestigious and popular enough, and last year about 9,000 people retired from the army, moreover, the majority of them were not privates or junior officers, but high-level specialists whose training had been invested a lot of money , and a long time, writes “The Notes From Poland”. Blaščak did not dispute these figures, but pointed out two aspects. First of all, some of those who left the army did so after retirement, and secondly, about 13,500 people joined the professional service last year, which is a record in one year. “Furthermore, we plan to start our “Become a Polish soldier” campaign only this year,” emphasized Blaščak. He admitted that he will have to think hard about what methods to attract new recruits, because “bare patriotism” does not always work in such cases. For example, the salary of privates before taxes is only 4,500 zlotys (about 955 euros) per month, while sergeants and junior officers receive only a few hundred euros more. The salaries of the highest command staff might seem competitive – up to 17,800 zlotys (3,780 euros) per month. Blaščak admitted that in order to fulfill the recruitment plan, salaries should be increased and other privileges for those serving in the army should be considered. But in order to prevent retirement of experienced military personnel, a decision has already been taken on special allowances for those who have served more than 15 years.
