“The aim is to deter the aggressor,” the Polish defense minister said on Monday. mariusz blaszczak announced the imminent deployment of the first US-made M142 Himars missile launchers on its northeastern border. At the military base of the 16th Army Artillery Brigade on the outskirts of Warsaw, Blaszczak explained that the first 20 Himars, part of a batch bought in February 2019 for around 380 million euros, are already on Polish soil and he hopes to deploy 20 batteries in total before the end of the year. They will equip a military unit based in Olsztyn, about 80 kilometers from the border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, and “reinforce the Polish forces in the country and on the fringes of the Atlantic Alliance.”
In the Polish version, they are equipped with ammunition Gmlrs guided missiles, which have a range of 70 kilometers, and Atacms tactical missiles, capable of attacking targets located more than 300 kilometers away. Himars (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) launchers are artillery rockets mounted on a wheeled chassis, manufactured by the American company Lockheed Martin. Currently, it is the most versatile surface-to-surface missile launcher and has proven The key to the war in Ukraine, Their precise attacks have often been successful in disorganizing the Russian rear and thanks to the shelling of logistics depots, material bases and ammunition, Ukraine managed to launch an efficient offensive and push troops into Kharkiv Oblast and Donbass in September 2022 Stayed. “He played a great role in Ukraine and he will be able to do the same here,” Blaszczak said.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Poland has been intensively upgrading its military. Blaszczak has not hesitated to reiterate that he wants it to be “the strongest army in Europe” in the next two years and frames this objective as an election promise ahead of next autumn’s elections. This was announced by the Polish Deputy Prime Minister at an election rally in the city of Wołomin. “If the voters, if the people give us another mandate, we can meet again in Wołomin in two years and then I can show them that the Polish Army will be the strongest land army in Europe,” he said after attending the event. Told the people. , The Warsaw government, headed by the national conservative Law and Justice party (PiS), is one of Ukraine’s staunchest political and military supporters. Not only does Kiev supply the neighboring country with tanks, fighter jets and a large amount of other weapons, it also heavily equips its army in anticipation of a possible escalation of the conflict.
The Polish army, with 123,000 troops, is receiving more than a thousand new “Borsuk” armored personnel carriers and hundreds of escort vehicles thanks to an agreement with Huta Stalowa Wola, a construction company based in southeastern Poland. This is the largest ever order in the history of the Polish arms industry. It also recently launched a program to acquire 32 F-35A fighter-bombers and already Polish pilots are receiving training in the United States, with the first squadron equipped with these aircraft this year. A few months ago, it signed a new contract with a South Korean consortium that manufactures K239 Chunmu rocket launchers, finalizing the purchase of 218 units for a value of 3,300 million euros. Poland will also receive 24 combat drones from Turkey in the coming years.
Logistics & Training Center
Blaszczak also announced the creation of a logistics and training center in Poland to service all allied countries using the missile launchers, a similar logistics center for countries using recent Leopard tanks. The decision to install has been added. “We are providing the Polish army with modern equipment,” Blaszczak has justified, remembering the territorial proximity to Russia. The Polish Voivodeship of Warmia and Masuira borders, in fact, on the Russian province of Kaliningrad, without forgetting that Poland also borders Ukraine. This proximity to the war also aroused the need for rearmament among the civilian population. Number of applications since the war in Ukraine Gun licenses have doubled in Poland And the government also provides free shooting training in schools across the country. But the great hope for its defense remains support from the United States, which maintains 11,000 troops stationed in Poland as a logistics hub for military aid to Ukraine.
