Military Technology 06/2020

Feature MT 6/2020 · 23 impressive economic growth would continue. By early 2020, it is obvious that COVID-19 will not spare the economy and will most likely lead to a lengthy global recession. Apart from multibillion projects for other branches of the military, such as HARPIA (32 F-35s), NAREW and WISŁA (short- and medium-range air defence), the Ministry of National Defence (MoND) plans to procure new assault helicopters (KRUK) and armoured vehicles (BORSUK), as well continuing acquisition of systems already in inventory, including modern howitzers – both tracked (KRAB) and wheeled (RAK) – and wheeled trans- ports (ROSOMAK) in various configurations. Further investments are very much needed since the Polish military, including the army, still has an abundance of aging post-Soviet equipment. More funds are needed, not only to replace equipment already in ser- vice but also to fund new units. Poland has been strengthening its military, with a fourth division – the 18 th Mechanised - formed in 2018, consisting of the 1 st Armoured Brigade in Warsaw, the 21 st Podhale Rifle Brigade in Rzeszów and a new 19 th Mechanised Brigade now forming in Lublin. This process is expected is expected to be completed next year, while addi- tional support units will be raised 2021-2026. At the same time, Poland has been forming additional brigades of the WOT, which will eventually consist of 17 brigades (53,000 troops). The Polish Land Forces are a key element of the defence system in Poland, for which Russia remains the main challenge and secu- rity threat. Several important modernisation initiatives have been launched in recent years, but needs are much greater than available funds. It will take many years before the Polish Army fully phases out its post-Soviet equipment. According to decisions taken in Warsaw late last year, Poland is to spend 2.1% of its GDP – or PLN 49 billion ( € 10.7 billion) – on defence in 2020. Modernisation – both technical and new infrastructure – will ac- count for roughly PLN 14.87 billion, including 1.3 billion on artillery (KRAB, HOMAR, RAK), 806 million for armoured and mechanised forces; 47 mil- lion for the TYTAN individual soldier system and 134 million for SPIKE ATGM integrated with vehicles. In 2019 Poland spent PLN 1.67 billion on its Territorial Army (WOT), the strength of which is supposed to grow to at least 29,000 by the end of this year. In October 2019, Minister of National Defence, Mariusz Błaszczak, signed a plan, known as Plan Modernizacji Technicznej or PMT, for technical modernisation of the Polish armed forces. The plan calls for investment of PLN 524 billion for this purpose between 2021-2035. Target milestones include investing PLN 24 billion on technical modernisation in 2025, rising to 50 billion by 2035. However, these figures are only initial estimates and were based on a very optimistic assumption that Poland’s A research associate in the Department of Foreign Policy and Security Theory at the University of Lódz, Poland, Dr Robert Czulda is an expert in international security and defence issues and a regular contributor to MilTech. Robert Czulda Polish Land Forces – 2020 and Beyond BORSUK, the new Polish armoured infantry fighting vehicle. (Photo: Robert Czulda)