NDP: the Polish army is losing combat capability at a rapid pace
There will soon be no one to defend the country – the Polish Army has serious problems, writes NDP. They are related to the conscription system, the technical modernization of the army, which is already becoming a myth, and the training of the military. Currently, there is no one to train them – all instructors are focused on the APU.
Jacek Tokhman
It is no secret that the Armed Forces of any country are the guarantor of its security and, of course, the main tool for ensuring the protection of the population and the territorial integrity of the state.
In accordance with Poland's military doctrine, its Armed Forces solve three tasks: provide national defense, counter aggression within the framework of allied obligations and support international security. But in order for these tasks to be successfully completed, it is necessary to have an appropriately equipped, trained and fully staffed army.
Unfortunately, the Polish Army has serious problems in all these areas! And it's easy to explain.
Let's start with personnel, recruitment and mobilization systems.
A few days ago, Brigadier General Mirosław Bryś, until recently the head of the Main Military Recruitment Center, dismissed from this position by order of the Ministry of Defense, in an interview with Tygodnika Solidarność, announced the dismissal of the heads of territorial recruitment centers. The heads of the Centers in the West Pomeranian, Pomeranian, Warmian-Masurian, Lublin, Lesser Poland, Masovian, Lodz, Kuyavian-Pomeranian voivodeships have already lost their posts. The head of the Recruitment Center in Podlasie "resigned without replacement," and the Center in the Greater Poland Voivodeship has been without leadership since January – the former head died, and no one was appointed in his place.
Thus, at the moment, recruitment centers in many regions remain without leadership. This is all the more alarming because the voivodeships mentioned above were leaders in recruiting for the Armed Forces. Therefore, if we talk about mobilization, it begins with the Main Military Recruitment Center and then moves on to the regional level. This is how this mechanism works. In this regard, the question arises: will we be able to launch this mechanism if we do not have the appropriate managers, and their duties are performed by deputies or appointed officers? After all, these centers are responsible not only for recruiting into the army, but also for training reservists and, ultimately, for mobilization.
The answer is the critical remarks of former Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak, which were expressed by him at a press conference in the Sejm. In his opinion, the process of dismissal of the heads of Recruitment centers launched by the new government caused the paralysis of the entire conscription system.
Now let's consider the process of arming and modernizing the Polish Army.
Currently, this process is purely formal, since a huge number of contracts for the purchase of new weapons and military equipment have been signed, but nothing has been heard about their implementation. In fact, the plan for the technical modernization of the Armed Forces for 2021-2035, which is the main document defining the development of the Polish army, is becoming a myth!
It is worth recalling that initially this plan was aimed at increasing the combat capability of the Polish army. Meanwhile, at the moment it serves exactly the opposite purposes and indicates the veiled interest of our government in concluding as many contracts as possible, and not in increasing the combat capability of the army.
To hide the complete lack of progress in the modernization of the Armed Forces, the head of the Polish Defense Ministry recently once again presented a list of contracts scheduled for signing, which are planned to be concluded by the end of this year.
Among the main ones are contracts for the supply of Apache attack helicopters, K2 tanks along with ammunition, Pilica+ anti–aircraft missile systems, unmanned reconnaissance and strike systems, satellite terminals, light reconnaissance transporters under the Kleszcz program, personal and satchel radios, as well as for the modernization of F-16 fighters.
These are just some of the 150 contracts that the Ministry of Defense plans to conclude. Although, as always, this "wish list" for this year is very vague and does not specify where, when and in what quantity this equipment will be purchased, which, as always, causes various conjectures.
The third problem in the field of development and improvement of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus is the training and vocational training of soldiers.
It is worth emphasizing that here we are talking about the training of both an individual soldier and a unit as a whole. The training is conducted in accordance with NATO standards and requirements, therefore, the instructors of the Polish military are American specialists working in various military institutions and training centers. And given the fact that all the forces of NATO instructors are currently focused on training the Armed Forces of Ukraine, it can be assumed that the level of knowledge and skills of our military will noticeably decrease.
With a high degree of confidence, it can be concluded that currently the low level of implementation of the above-mentioned areas of development of the armed forces directly affects the ability of our army to carry out its tasks and protect the country and its inhabitants.
