Polish defense leaders push ‘dronization’ of the armed forces

WARSAW, Poland — Polish defense leaders plan to embed drone capabilities into all levels of the armed forces, building a new military component devoted to unmanned aircraft and speeding up their acquisition.

The envisioned transformation comes after studying the lessons gleaned from Russia’s full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine and Kyiv’s ensuing defensive operations, now in their third year.

“Unmanned systems allow to gain advantage at relatively low costs,” a spokesperson for the National Ministry of Defense told Defense News. “The ministry will intensify the dronization process of the Polish military in specific areas of their use: reconnaissance, combat, and support.”

That means even small formations of soldiers will have access to an arsenal of unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, the official explained. “Experience with the use of drones across our eastern border [with Ukraine] indicates the validity of their use at the lowest levels of command, so that, for instance, a platoon commander could have reconnaissance UAVs at their disposal, and be able to hit close targets with UAVs or use so-called ‘kamikaze’ drones.”

Observations from the war in Ukraine also have prompted Polish plans to launch a new military component, the Drone Forces, according to Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, the country’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence.

Speaking earlier this year at a session of the National Defence Committee of the Sejm, the parliament’s lower chamber, Kosiniak-Kamysz described the envisioned organization as a “separate component at operational level.” The idea came from Gen. Wiesław Kukuła, the chief of the General Staff, he said.

Amid those plans, buying and fielding new drones is a priority for officials here, with ongoing acquisitions to be accelerated.

The Polish military has acquired various types of UAVs over the past years. These include Bayraktar TB2 drones equipped with anti-tank missiles. Warsaw ordered 24 such drones from Turkish manufacturer Baykar in 2021, and their deliveries began in 2022.

“The last of the four sets [ordered from Baykar] is currently in the process of being transferred to the armed forces,” the defense spokesperson said.

Poland is also negotiating the acquisition of MQ-9B SkyGuardian drones from General Atomics, following a period of leasing the MQ-9A Reaper model. The potential purchase of an undisclosed number of aircraft is poised to make the nation’s armed forces the first military on NATO’s eastern flank to buy the medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) UAV.

Asked by Defense News about the program, the spokesperson would only confirm that “there is a plan to purchase MQ-9B unmanned reconnaissance and strike systems.”

“Looking at the next programs, as part of the Zefir program, we intend to acquire MALE-class unmanned aerial systems,” the spokesperson said, noting that a separate effort is ongoing under the Gryf program to field a shorter-range variant. For the Polish Navy, a separate effort exists to buy rotorcraft drones under the Albatros program.

Polish privately-owned defense company WB Group has supplied two types of drones to the country’s military: FlyEye mini UAVs, which are used for reconnaissance, artillery guidance, search and rescue, but also to extend the range of battle management systems; and Warmate drones, which combine reconnaissance capacities and combat capabilities as loitering munition.

While orders placed with foreign UAV manufacturers and privately-owned Polish drone makers have allowed Poland to gain new capabilities, the troubled UAV contract the previous government awarded to state-owned PGZ in 2018 has become a model example of inefficient procurement, local observers say.

Under the deal, a consortium of state-owned defense companies was to deliver 30 short-range reconnaissance Orlik drones for about 790 million zloty ($200 million). Since then, numerous annexes were added to the contract to extend the delivery schedule.

Kosiniak-Kamysz said that he expects PGZ to immediately come through with the work. “The military has lost patience in this matter,” he said. “In 2021, those drones were to be delivered, and they have not been delivered to date,” he said said April 5.

The coming months will demonstrate how PGZ’s new management intends to tackle the problematic drone contract. Last month, Krzysztof Trofiniak was named as the company’s new chief executive. A seasoned defense industry manager, Trofiniak’s track record includes serving as the president of local defense company Huta Stalowa Wola and as vice president of PGZ. His return to the defense giant was facilitated by the October 2023 election in which a new coalition government was sworn in, ousting the right-wing Law and Justice party from power after eight years of rule.

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

波兰华沙——波兰国防领导人计划将无人机能力融入武装部队的各个层级，建立一支专门负责无人机的新型军事力量，并加快无人机的采购速度。

这一设想的转变源于对俄罗斯全面入侵邻国乌克兰以及基辅随后开展的防御行动（目前已进入第三年）所吸取的教训的研究。

“无人系统能够以相对较低的成本获得优势，”波兰国防部发言人告诉《防务新闻》。“国防部将加强波兰军队在特定应用领域的无人机化进程，这些领域包括侦察、作战和支援。”

这位官员解释说，这意味着即使是小规模的士兵部队也能使用无人机（UAV）。“我们在东部边境（与乌克兰接壤）使用无人机的经验表明，在最低指挥层级使用无人机是合理的，例如，排长可以拥有侦察无人机，并能够使用无人机打击近距离目标，或者使用所谓的‘神风特攻队’无人机。”

据波兰副总理兼国防部长瓦迪斯瓦夫·科西尼亚克-卡梅什称，乌克兰战争的观察也促使波兰计划组建一支新的军事力量——无人机部队。

今年早些时候，科西尼亚克-卡梅什在议会下院——众议院国防委员会的一次会议上发言时，将设想中的组织描述为“作战层面的一个独立组成部分”。他说，这个想法来自总参谋长维斯瓦夫·库库瓦将军。

在这些计划中，购买和部署新型无人机是当地官员的优先事项，正在进行的采购工作也将加快进行。

近年来，波兰军方采购了多种类型的无人机，其中包括配备反坦克导弹的Bayraktar TB2无人机。2021年，华沙向土耳其制造商Baykar订购了24架此类无人机，并于2022年开始交付。

国防部发言人表示：“从Baykar订购的四套设备中的最后一套目前正在移交给武装部队。”

波兰目前正在与通用原子公司洽谈采购MQ-9B“天空卫士”无人机，此前该国曾租赁MQ-9A“死神”无人机。此次潜在采购数量尚未公开，但有望使波兰军队成为北约东翼首个采购中空长航时（MALE）无人机的国家。

《防务新闻》就该计划询问发言人时，发言人仅证实“有一项购买MQ-9B无人侦察和打击系统的计划”。

发言人表示：“展望未来，作为‘泽菲尔’计划的一部分，我们计划采购中空长航时无人机系统。”他还指出，目前正在“格里夫”计划下推进一项短程无人机的研发工作。波兰海军也在“信天翁”计划下采购旋翼无人机。

波兰私营国防公司 WB 集团向该国军方提供了两种无人机：FlyEye 迷你无人机，用于侦察、炮兵引导、搜索和救援，以及扩展作战管理系统的范围；以及 Warmate 无人机，将侦察能力和作战能力结合为巡飞弹。

当地观察人士表示，虽然向外国无人机制造商和波兰私营无人机制造商下达的订单使波兰获得了新的能力，但前政府在 2018 年授予国有企业 PGZ 的那份问题重重的无人机合同已成为低效采购的典型例子。

根据协议，一家国有国防企业组成的联合体将交付30架奥尔利克短程侦察无人机，总价值约7.9亿兹罗提（约合2亿美元）。此后，合同中又增加了许多附件，以延长交付期限。

科西尼亚克-卡米什表示，他希望PGZ公司立即完成这项工作。“军方在这件事上已经失去了耐心，”他说。“这些无人机原定于2021年交付，但至今仍未交付，”他于4月5日表示。

未来几个月将展现PGZ新管理层将如何应对棘手的无人机合同问题。上个月，克日什托夫·特罗菲尼亚克被任命为公司新任首席执行官。特罗菲尼亚克是一位经验丰富的国防工业管理者，曾担任波兰本土国防公司Huta Stalowa Wola的总裁和PGZ的副总裁。2023年10月的大选促成了他重返这家国防巨头。在那次选举中，新的联合政府宣誓就职，结束了右翼法律与公正党长达八年的执政。

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。