Under the Homeland Defence Act passed last winter, the Polish government decided to double the size of its armed forces and increase defence spending from 2.2% currently to at least 3% next year. Such military reinforcement would make Poland NATO’s third-biggest relative spender, behind Greece (3.8%) and the United States (3.5%). 

In late August, General Dynamics Land Systems (USA) announced a $1.15 billion contract with the Polish government to build 250 M1A2 System Enhancement Program version 3 (SEPv3) Abrams main battle tanks, according to Popular Mechanics. 

As the portal underlines, a more significant $6 billion deal also includes 26 M88A2 Hercules armoured recovery vehicles, 17 M1110 Joint Assault Bridges, 776 tank machine guns, and about 33,000 rounds of tank gun ammunition.

With 1,230 additional tanks, Poland is about to become Europe’s best-equipped NATO member regarding its tank fleet. Russia, the world’s largest tank operator, had 2,800 tanks in active service before it started invading mainland Ukraine in late February, with some 10,000 older tanks in storage. In just over 200 days of conflict, Russia lost close to 1,000 of its best tanks. 

Since Moscow launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Polish government embarked on a multi-billion dollar upgrade of its ground forces. As Popular Mechanics formulates it, “the improvements are designed to deter, and if necessary, defeat Russia if it continues its march west.”

During a recent speech in the city of Płock, the leader of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party Jarosław Kaczyński announced that Poland would raise defence spending to the equivalent of 5% of the country’s GDP.

Image: Jonathan Nackstrand / Getty Images

Author: Sébastien Meuwissen