Poland plans to increase the size of the armed forces/wojsko-polskie.pl
The Polish authorities plan to significantly increase spending on their defense sector. The country also wants to increase the size of its army.
This is being done in response to the threats that Russia now poses to the entire civilized world. Andrzej Duda, President of Poland, spoke about this on May 29.
Will increase over the next years
The President noted that many Poles are now afraid of armed aggression from the Russian side. Residents of the country are afraid that the Russians will attack them in the same way as they do with Ukraine.
Duda noted that the country's leadership has set itself the goal of increasing the number of Polish armed forces in the coming years. However, he did not specify how exactly.
What kind of army does this country have now
According to official data from the Polish Ministry of Defense, by the end of 2020, more than 128,000 soldiers served with them. An important factor is that more than 107 thousand are the composition of a professional army. Also in the country then, according to rough estimates, there were 21 thousand people in the Territorial Defense Forces.
However, in October last year, Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak presented a plan to increase the defense budget. It said that the size of their troops should be at least doubled to 250,000 soldiers and 50,000 reservists. The country will also resume compulsory military service.
Important! Poland became a member of NATO in 1999. Since then, Poland has been regularly investing at least 2% of the country's GDP in its defense.
Acquisition of equipment already known
On May 27, Poland's Defense Minister announced that their country is already planning to start purchasing new military equipment. On that day, he signed a letter of request for the purchase of about 500 highly mobile HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems.
Heavy weapons will be purchased under the Polish missile program called Homar. It should be noted that these MLRS are quite powerful. Some of the modifications can accurately hit the target at a distance of up to 300 kilometers.
