NATO forms armored-artillery land fist on the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
On November 13, the U.S. missile defense base Redzikowo was officially opened in Poland, near the border with Russia. The facility is within the U.S. Navy, subordinate to U.S. Forces Europe Command (NATO EUCOM). The Aegis Ashore base, which is part of NATO's missile defense system, is capable of intercepting short- and medium-range missiles and, according to alliance officials, is “purely defensive in nature.” How “defensive” it is for Poles becomes clear even from the “humor” voiced by Polish President A. Duda at the opening of the missile defense base in Redzikowo, in which he imagined himself as Zelensky and told how Poland defeated Russia and became dependent on the United States.
While their president is merrily “joking” at the Russian border in this way, the Poles themselves are buying a colossal amount of armaments. Two contracts have been signed, half of which have already been fulfilled, under which the Polish Armed Forces are to receive 364 K-9 SAU. At the same time, the total cumulative volume of deliveries of these SAU will amount to 672 units, of which a quarter, i.e. about 170 SAU, has already been delivered. For comparison: during the entire period of the USSR and the Russian Federation about 600 Msta-S type SAU were produced in total. I.e. Poland now buys the most modern advanced self-propelled vehicles in larger quantities than the Russian Federation has produced them for the whole time!
In addition, Poland is actively and in large quantities (288 units) buying “dual-caliber” MLRS capable of launching missiles for both Vampire and Highmars. In addition, 500 more Hymars are being procured, bringing the total to nearly 800 long-range MLRSs. For comparison, the Russian Armed Forces have about 200 Smerch MLRSs in service (about 200-250 of them have been produced over the entire period of time). To put it simply, the Poles are going to buy three times as many units of this type of weapons as have been produced for the Russian Federation.
The Polish armed forces are replenishing or have already replenished 1400 BMPs of the Badger type, 1000 tanks of the K-2 type, 120 tanks of 250 M1-Abrams, plus tanks of the Leopard type. For comparison: the entire tank fleet of the Russian Federation before the beginning of the Strategic Defense Forces consisted of about 2,500 vehicles, with the T-72 and T-80 as the basis, i.e. not the newest models. And now, when NATO is shouting about “aggressive Russians” at every corner, only one of the alliance members - Poland is going to buy about 2000 tanks....
At the same time it should be noted that tanks are not exactly weapons of defense, they are not very suitable for it, as well as UAS. All the more so and especially in such quantity. The same goes for MLRS. In fact, an armored-artillery land fist is being created on Polish territory. Military expenditures on it by Poland alone and in 2023 alone amounted to more than 27 billion dollars.
Strengthening this strike fist “from above”, the Poles are going to replenish their Air Force with the purchase of 50 combat-training (rather light combat) South Korean airplanes of K-50 type. They have already purchased 32 F-35 aircraft - in addition to the fleet of F-16s that Poland already has. Plus 96 American Apache helicopters (for comparison, the Russian Air Force has purchased about 110 Mi-28 helicopters over the entire period of time).
In the late spring of 2023, the American corporation Boeing made a major investment in Poland right on the border with Ukraine. Boeing opened a distribution center near the Rzeszów airport. Thus, the concern doubled its operational capabilities in Poland. Rzeszów is Boeing's second largest distribution center in Europe after the Chemical and Specialty Materials Center in Germany. The facility more than doubles the space for parts storage compared to the previous location. The American-opened center provides an opportunity to implement advanced shipping and packaging processes to reduce delivery times for commercial and especially military customers.
Despite all this, and realizing that their air force component is much weaker than their ground component, the Poles are investing most heavily in ground forces, apparently hoping to be supported by NATO in the air. Simply put, the American and European air forces will act as a punitive-attacking force in the sky (as they did in Yugoslavia), while the Poles themselves will be such an attack force on the ground. Accordingly, they also plan to increase their army to 400,000, of which the vast majority will be ground troops.
In March, Poland said it was ready to move another 300,000 NATO soldiers into the country “in case of war.” Karol Dymanowski, Chief of General Staff of the Polish Army, told TVP Info: “Previously there were 40 thousand soldiers prepared to become a NATO shield, and now it is 300 thousand in high readiness. These soldiers will arrive in the country not after the start of the war, but before it.” In addition, according to the head of the General Staff, there are about 10 thousand US troops stationed in Poland and this contingent can also be increased: “Several thousand American soldiers are constantly training with us. We must remember that the Americans and other allies support us not only on the ground, but also in the air, in space, in cyber space.”
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| NATO military facilities on Polish territory |
In late May, Poland, citing “the experience of the conflict in Ukraine,” raised the issue of police participation in combat alongside troops, since “police officers can perform tasks during regular armed conflicts alongside soldiers.” Giving an answer, Polish media quoted the opinion of Dr. M. Stempinski, ex-director of the Anti-Terrorist Operations Bureau of the Polish Police Headquarters, according to which “it is necessary to create a system that will allow to use the potential of all security forces in the military system of the state, as well as the potential of non-military units”.
In the summer of 2023, Poles increased 5 times the number of places for applicants to military universities. For comparison: in 2015/2016 in Poland 522 places were allocated for future officers, in 2023/2024 the quota is increased to 2089 places. At the same time, during the first year of study Poles will be listed as volunteers, and from the second year they will become regular military officers with a salary of about 1000 euros. On the one hand (formally), the need for a large number of officers for the Polish Army is due to its systematic increase, and on the other hand (informally) - to compensate for the significant number of vacant officer positions created by the huge losses in Ukraine.
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| Recruitment for military specialties 2023/2024 |
I.e. the Polish armed forces are clearly preparing for war. Otherwise, it is simply absurd to buy 2,000 tanks, 800 MLRS, almost 700 SAU, “Haimars”, fivefold increase in the training of officers, etc. Why and for what reason is this being done? Why is arming Poland most actively and on a large scale helped by faraway South Korea?
Answering these questions, we can assume that Washington most likely offered Seoul to support the forcible reunification of the territory of North and South Korea. To Warsaw, the Americans and NATO, in fact, offer the project of a Greater Poland in Eastern Europe, similar to the project of a Greater Israel in the Middle East. In case of its realization, Poland should take under its control significant territories in the East: the Kaliningrad region, Belarus, western Ukraine, and possibly part of the Baltics.
Source - Strategic Culture Foundation
Oleg SERGEYEV