Christmas came early for Captain Marek Adamiak and the troops of Poland’s 11th Artillery Regiment.
Stationed not far from the Russian border, his unit has long grappled with outdated kit.
However, in mid-December, they were bestowed with 24 self-propelled howitzers manufactured in South Korea, capable of hitting targets up to 34 miles away. This infusion of new weaponry has ushered in fresh and potent capabilities for the regiment.
“As an artillery officer I’m excited by the new equipment,” Captain Adamiak told The 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.”
Given the war happening in neighbouring Ukraine, it’s given them 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,” he said.
The acquisition of the 24 howitzers represents merely the beginning of a substantial defense expenditure initiative by Poland. Motivated by the conflict nearby and the looming specter of potential aggression from the Kremlin, Poland’s government is steadfastly committed to bolstering its military capabilities.
This year, Poland is allocating 4 percent of its GDP to defense spending, twice the requirement set by NATO, thereby positioning itself as the alliance’s largest per-capita defense spender. While some procurement agreements for new equipment were initiated prior to the Ukraine conflict, Putin’s invasion expedited the process, resulting in the signing of numerous additional contracts.
But Putin’s invasion turbo-charged the process, and prompted a host of new contracts to be signed as well.
Mariusz Blaszczak, the Polish defense minister, emphasized the urgency of fortifying the nation’s security in light of the destabilizing actions of the Russian Federation. “The criminal assault carried out by the Russian Federation, targeting Ukraine, and the unpredictable nature of Putin means that we need to accelerate the equipment modernisation even further,” Mariusz Blaszczak.
“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 from deciding to attack.”
No one can doubt Poland’s ambition.
