After 1989, the size of the Polish army was gradually reduced; After this, commands and operational units were disbanded, General Bogusław Samol, former commander of NATO’s Multinational Corps Northeast, told PAP. He stressed that after 2015, the decision has been made to expand the armed forces.
The process of reducing the size of the Polish army
In an interview with PAP, General Samol recalled that after 1989, following socio-political changes and Poland’s withdrawal from the political and military structures of the Warsaw Pact, decisions were taken to reduce the size of the Polish army.
Let us not forget that the Polish economy was very weak at the time and the governments of that time could not afford to maintain even an army of 450,000 men. It was decided at the time that the size of the Polish armed forces would be sufficient for defense needs and would depend on the capabilities of the state budget.
the general emphasized.
The so-called process of restructuring the armed forces has begun. The number of armed forces reduced from 450,000 to 260,000. This state of affairs lasted until the late 1990s. The 2001 Law on Reconstruction and Technical Modernization and Financing of the Polish Armed Forces defined defense financing at the level of 1.95 percent of GDP and the size of the army at the level of not less than 150,000. The conditions of this law were not met in terms of numbers. Within a few years from 2001, the population had been reduced from 150,000 to less than 100,000. Probably, the number of armed forces in 2012 or 2015 was about 95-97 thousand
General Samol noticed.
Liquidation of military units
He added that this involved changing organizational structures and disbanding commands and operational units. He gave an example of the liquidation of the 1st Mechanized Division of Warsaw Tadeusz Kosciuszko.
A number of rocket artillery units were disbanded, brigades and some regiments in divisions were liquidated. The potential engineer troops, so needed for the duration of defensive operations, has been reduced. The same happened with the Air Force: they were downsized and underinvested. It was not until 2006 that the armed forces began to be equipped with the F-16, but this process was halted. A number of the country’s air defense units were disbanded, despite being allocated funds. At least in 2009 about PLN 6.5 billion to start the process of purchasing modern air defense systems for the country
said General Samol.
He also noted that a number of reconnaissance units in the divisions had been liquidated.
It is difficult to say that nothing happened, because some politicians explain that the units have been moved. Not true, they were liquidated. It even assumed a further liquidation of the armed forces, to a level of 70,000
– said the former commander of the NATO Multinational Corps Northeast.
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Army reconstruction process
We are currently in a period in which it was decided to expand the armed forces
he noticed.
He recalled that the 2014 National Security Strategy officially identified the threat from Russia, while after the 2015 elections, it was decided to conduct a strategic defense analysis of the country, which showed the need to rebuild the armed forces, the command structures, the organizational structures and the reconstruction of the country had to be rebuilt. structures and modernizes the equipment of the armed forces.
General Samol also pointed out that in 2016 the process of building territorial defenses began, which had been “completely liquidated” in previous years. He added that WOT is currently in the peak of reconstruction. He also stressed the importance of the 2022 Homeland Defense Act, which increased defense spending, and identified three sources of funding for this spending.
While the defense budget was between 30 and 40 billion złoty in 2015, today it stands at over 140 billion złoty. So today Poland can afford it, because we cannot underestimate security. Consensus must exist among the political elites, regardless of their positions
– summed up General Samol.
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wkt/PAP
Source: wPolityce