Poland's defence partnerships

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Polish Defence Minister Bogdan Klich explains the benefits of EU and NATO membership to the country's defence capability, and sets out Poland's national defence goals…

A key priority of Polish defence policy is to ensure security for our country. This, based on our national security strategy, is achieved as a combination of three elements: national defence capabilities, NATO membership and participation in the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy. An important role is also played by the strategic partnership with the United States.

Having celebrated the 10th anniversary of our membership in the North Atlantic Alliance, we can describe our involvement as being both demanding and providing numerous opportunities, since the demands for interoperability act as a catalyst for an accelerated transformation of our forces and defence system as a whole. That is why Poland decided to host the Joint Force Training Centre – a cradle for excellence for NATO personnel – in Bydgoszcz. Bydgoszcz has also become a home for NATO's 3rd Signal Battalion. Apart from that, we strongly support the idea of a NATO Response Force as being the best concept for maintaining multinational forces of high readiness, capable of fulfilling tasks within Article 5 of the Washington Treaty.

It is of crucial importance for Poland that NATO remains a strong and effective organisation providing security to its members. That is why we have actively engaged in the Alliance's transformation. Poland would like to see the new strategic concept as emphasising the importance of collective defence, continuing the open door policy and improving its capability for conducting expeditionary operations.

The European Union with its Common Security and Defence Policy plays a significant role in our security and defence system. The key aspects of our participation in its activities include EU operations, EU Battle Groups and the European Defence Agency. The agency is perceived in Poland as a perfect platform for developing defence capabilities and technologies which otherwise, either for financial or technical reasons, would not have been developed or implemented by any member state individually.

These programmes not only result in incremental increases in capabilities, but also yield a considerable number of new technologies. The research and scientific activities conducted within EDA's Research and Technology Directorate are very much within our focus. Having invested €22m, we joined a total of six science and technology programmes including innovative concepts and emerging technologies, force protection, unmanned ground tactical vehicles and network enabled armoured fighting vehicles, which cover a large number of scientific projects. This expenditure, placing us in some cases within the top three contributors, allows Poland to access research activities totalling over €220m in value. Within the defence budget there are allocations made to appropriate funds for two more R&T programmes in 2010 and 2011.

As for capability programmes, our utmost attention, effort and funding go to the areas where EU or national shortfalls are the most tangible. This includes air lift (European Air Transport Framework), surveillance systems (Multinational Space-Based Imaging System for Surveillance and Maritime Surveillance), unmanned platforms (eg. Future Unmanned Aerial System) and force protection in general, to name just a few.

Collective efforts made by EU member states scale down the overall costs of the multinational programmes money and time wise. In other words, by participating in EDA programmes, not only do we increase the EU's capabilities, but also we develop our own defence potential. A large contribution to the Polish defence system as a whole is made by the participation of our defence industry as well as research and science entities in these programmes, adding to their technological base.

When it comes to strategic cooperation with the US, Poland perceives this as contribution to the transatlantic dialogue. In our opinion such an approach is beneficial not only to the cohesion of the Alliance, but it may also pave the way for even better communication between the European Community and the United States. Aside from that, the US-Polish partnership's fruits include our participation in US-funded assistance programmes like international military education and training and foreign military sales/financing.

The Polish Armed Forces are in the process of continuous transformation. The process, however, has gained momentum since full membership in both NATO and the EU were obtained. In the national domain the transformation process is mainly focused on technical modernisation and a shift from conscript-based services to all-voluntary forces. As a result of this two-way approach, we want to achieve the congruency of technical modernisation and personnel-oriented reform.

The cessation of the draft was the key priority for the current administration. This was aimed at increasing the number of high readiness units equipped with the newest equipment. Above all we wanted to assure the supremacy of quality over quantity. The goal number is 100,000 troops with a support of 20,000 National Reserve Force as opposed to 125,000 troops (including the conscripts) from before the reform. This has been 99% achieved as of today. From a military perspective, this requires certain changes in the organisation and subordination of the units.

In terms of human resources, education and training became even more important than before. Military education is, after all, the key element of gaining knowledge and skills. Higher military education – funded commonly by ministries of defence and higher education – is the area that receives considerable funding from the Ministry of Defence's budget. This includes not only the costs of training military students, but also the research activities contracted by the Ministry of Defence.

Our educational entities ­– the military academies and universities – continuously improve their portfolio by cooperating with foreign counterparts. They run exchange programmes, which allow Polish students to study abroad, and they also have a number of foreign students here in Poland. When it comes to international cooperation, our current priority is the initiative made by France during its presidency to launch a military exchange programme based on the commonly known ERASMUS in order to facilitate the flow of students, human resources and methodology between European universities and academies. At present, focused working groups conduct appropriate analyses in order to create the legal basis that makes such activities feasible.

As for training, cessation of conscription gives us a marvellous opportunity for achieving better results, since an average training period for a soldier has tripled. Now, we can spend more on a single soldier, be it a driver, pilot or a regular infantryman. Moreover, the qualitative change that has been observed over the past decade in our armed forces is also very much noticeable in our training system. This includes an increase in the number of high technologies used for training, with a simulator becoming an indispensable tool. Practically speaking, in all our services, simulators play an increasingly important role, replacing the original platforms from the basic and advanced training, as a result prolonging the life-cycles of the latter. This, I believe, is the key reason for using these high-tech devices.

Being a member of NATO and the EU, Poland pays particular attention to international exercises as the key element for achieving and fine-tuning interoperability. They are obviously, apart from that, a great means of complementing our national training system. Possessing a considerable quantity of training areas, Poland would like to see a larger number of NATO and EU exercises and training activities being conducted on its territory.
Since manpower itself may not suffice for the demands of the contemporary battlefield, we are continuing the efforts of providing our soldiers with the latest technologies and the most reliable platforms. In terms of planning, we are focusing on 10-year periods, outlining the most important procurements to be made. Currently the 2009-2018 development plan groups our intentions into three areas.

Firstly, we will continue the long-term programmes, which were started at the beginning of our decade. These encompass the Rosomak Armoured Personnel Carrier, Spike anti-tank missiles, Grom air defence missiles and RBS 15 Mk3 naval missiles. The second group includes the programmes that were launched very recently or are to be launched. They are aimed at meeting our demands in the areas of individual equipment, simulators, lead-in fighter-trainer and artillery.
The third group, very often referred to as the key modernisation endeavours for the upcoming decade, addresses five top priority shortfalls. They include air defence C2 system, acquisition of utility, combat, combat support and SAR helicopters, and modernisation of the Polish Navy (acquisition of multirole corvettes, mine destroyers and submarines). The fourth programme is aimed at acquisition and integration of C4ISR systems. They will encompass combat identification, communication, monitoring and C2 systems. Last but not least is the procurement and implementation of unmanned recon­naissance and combat aerial vehicles.

All the abovementioned combined are our recipe for satisfying our national goals, meeting the requirements of the Alliance as well as making us an even more active player in the Common Defence and Security Policy. However, without appropriate funding allocated, this will become nothing but a wish list. The 2010 defence budget is set at the level of 1.95% of GDP; that, in the situation of the current economy, will provide the ministry with over PLN25.7bn. Further transformation requires the funds to be stable, but preferably increasing, since in the future we may expect nothing but an increase in personnel expenditures as well as a rise in the prices of defence technologies and platforms.