Posted on 06/02/2013 2:43:59 PM PDT by JerseyanExile
Poland has embarked on one of the biggest defence spending increases of any Nato member. The programme was launched by Bronislaw Komorowski, the president, in a signing ceremony that symbolically took place not far from the Belarus border.
“Poland will be more secure and more credible as an ally and a key country in our part of Europe, able to defend its own territory and able to help others,” Mr Komorowski said during the ceremony in April.
At a time when most Nato military budgets are under severe strain because of the economic crisis, Poland is undertaking a thorough modernisation of its armed forces which is expected to cost 140bn zlotys ($44bn) over the next decade. This has attracted interest from defence contractors around the world.
“We are in the lead when it comes to the European Union,” says Tomasz Siemoniak, the defence minister. “This is a programme that is noticeable from abroad.”
Poland spends 1.95 per cent of gross domestic product on defence. Because its economy has coped better with the financial crisis than most Nato members, that means the total amount the country spends is rising steadily.
The programme also shifts emphasis from spending on personnel to upgrading equipment. Until now Poland has spent about 16 per cent of its military budget on tanks, rockets and guns but about a third will now be allocated to military hardware.
That will mean something of a revolution for the military. About 60 per cent of the Polish armed forces’ equipment dates back to Soviet times, including MiG-29 and Su-22 fighters, as well as antiquated T-72 tanks. When the procurement programme is complete, about 70 to 80 per cent of equipment will be modern.
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
Good for them in taking the initiative of self determination
$4 Billion/year on defense?
Hope they don’t want a modern airforce or navy.
It’s not a huge country, a little smaller than New Mexico.
1 F-35 is about $130 million
It goes quick.
I hear you (work for a defense contractor), but I still think you can find the balance between quality (cutting edge) and quantity.
I think the $4B is an upgrade per year.
The article states that they spend 1.95% of GDP. Their GDP is $514B. Hence they spend $10B a year. Granted this is chicken feed compared to our budget, but not everyone needs the shiniest toys like us. I wonder if the $4B is an increase over current levels? It would appear so, and that would make their GDP % appreciably higher.
Of course we also shell out a lot more as a percentage of GDP.
Our GDP $14.99T
Defense budget $683B
Thus 4.55% of GDP.
Good. Maybe they’ll expand ammunition manufacture (perhaps at Nova Deba and elsewhere), export some tens of thousands of tons of ammo (to the United States), and use the profits to improve air defense.
Thanks JerseyanExile.
It’s nearly as much as Germany is going to spend over the same period of time. There are literally a few countries in the world, which spend over $10 billion a year (on the actual hardware, not personal costs etc. which make majority of every defense budget) and all of them operate things like strategic air force, nuclear submarines etc. these are really expensive toys.
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