“Train with the Army”, “Do something for yourself and your loved ones” announce the advertisements of the Ministry of Defence. The campaign, launched in 2022 throughout the country, aims to promote “the spirit of defense” and to encourage vocations to serve in the army or the territorial defense forces. With some success: since last autumn, more than 11,000 people have attended training courses open to all Polish citizens aged 15 to 65.
Every Saturday in January and February, the 1st Warsaw Armored Brigade, based in Wesola, east of the Polish capital, hosted several hundred volunteers for an eight-hour session. Soldiers taught them how to shoot, use a map, or load ammunition into the front of a tank.
Initiation training in military gestures
In the early morning, in the icy wind, five hundred participants joined the brigade headquarters. Among them, a majority of men, “fanas mili”, passionate about military things, scouts familiar with survival techniques and others, who came out of simple curiosity. Divided into groups of ten, everyone learned how to behave during an air raid or a bombardment, how to put on a tourniquet, mount and dismount an assault rifle, and how to shoot a target from different positions.. Everyone was also able to see some samples of military equipment up close, from the Leopard tank to the Panzer 2000 howitzers and Bradley armored vehicles.
« The conflict in Ukraine has caused an electric shock. Citizens are more willing to participate in the defense of the country, explains journalist Aneta Bankowska. Doing this training does not mean that you are ready to join the army or the territorial defense forces but beA lot of people feel the need to do something, to learn how to defend themselves and their loved ones if something happens to Poland. »
All-round communication
Two months after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the “Become a soldier of Poland” operation had already rallied nearly 16,000 people for a one-year, voluntary and paid military service. A record since the end of compulsory military service in 2008. In 2023, the objective is to attract 25,000 volunteers. After a month’s basic training, recruits follow eleven months’ specialized training. At the end of the course, the applicant can enlist as a professional soldier or return to civilian life and be part of the reserve. At least 6,300 professional soldiers have already been recruited through this channel and some 1,500 applications are being considered.
The Ministry of Defense’s all-out communication also targets students across the “academic legion” and high school students, via classes in uniform in secondary and vocational schools. “The job market is very competitive in Poland and our population is ageing, but the army is a stable and reliable employer and we have no shortage of candidates “says Lieutenant-Colonel Justyna Balyk, head of communication at the Polish army recruitment center.
In Wesola, the 1st Warsaw Armored Brigade, commanded by Colonel Artur Kozlowski, equipped until then with German-made Leopard tanks, is due to receive this year the first examples of a batch of 116 used Abrams tanks purchased from the United States. United. The unit is part of the 18th Mechanized Division, one of the formations set up to defend the country against the Russian threat. Since its creation in 2018, the division’s brigades and support units have gradually strengthened to prepare for high-intensity combat.
A law on “defence of the fatherland”
As early as March 2022, the law on the defense of the homeland, passed by Parliament with the support of the opposition, accelerated an overall upgrade of the armed forces by fixing defense spending at 3% of GDP in 2023. extra-budgetary mechanism, the special fund for the modernization of the armed forces, will make it possible to reach 4% of GDP. The objective set by the government? Increase the size of the army from 164,000 men at the end of 2022 to 300,000 men by 2035, including 50,000 for the territorial defense forces. Warsaw then embarked on a massive campaign to acquire new equipment.
Result, in 2027, Poland should have the largest army of the Old Continent, a “great army of deterrence”in the words of Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak. “What is happening in Ukraine is on everyone’s mind, the war has ceased to be an abstract idea. Warsaw is only 150 km from the border with Belarus and theukrainians are fighting for uscomments Eryk Mistewicz, editor-in-chief of the journal Everything Most Important. The ongoing modernization of the armed forces gives Poles a sense of security. »
Massive purchases in South Korea
A sign of the times, the military effort is consensual, one of the rare subjects escaping political polarization, even if some question the merits of the rise in military power programmed by the conservative national government of the ruling Law and Justice party. (PiS). “Poland does not need an army of 300,000 men and that is not possible for financial and demographic reasons”, strikes Roman Kuzniar, former adviser for foreign affairs to President Bronislaw Komorowski, lambasting “this gigantic shopping in South Korea to the detriment of the Polish and European defense industry”.
To carry out this dramatic transformation, the Polish Armed Forces will have to overcome many challenges. “The biggest challenge is human resources., believes Jakub Palowski, journalist at the Defense24 site. The army recruits soldiers but struggles to retain them, particularly in the special forces, logistics, artillery, air force and navy. Nearly 9,000 soldiers would have left the army at the beginning of 2023. Among the factors encouraging soldiers to cut short their careers: the insufficient level of salaries, housing problems, an unequal workload and nepotism in a very opaque promotion system. “The generals got all the toys they wanted, drop a former officer, but, at the end of the process, they may end up with a huge amount of heavy equipment without being able to use it. »
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Massive off-the-shelf purchases
In July 2022, Poland has signed one of the largest military contracts in its history with South Korea which provides, among other things, for the delivery of 1,000 tanks, 624 howitzers and 48 fighter planes. An additional contract, concluded in October for 3,000 rocket launchers, brought the total cost of its purchases to $14.15 billion.
In April 2022 and January 2023, Poland also placed orders with the United States for the purchase of 366 Abrams tanks, following several earlier orders for 32 F-35 fighter jets, 8 Patriot anti-aircraft missile batteries and 96 Apache helicopters.
At the beginning of February, the US State Department has also agreed to the sale to Poland of 18 M142 multiple rocket launchers (Himars) and related equipment for a total of 10 billion dollars.