Polish officials offer US more defense buys, joint ammo production

WARSAW, Poland — As Poland’s defense budget is set to reach an unprecedented level in the country’s history, at 4.7 percent of gross domestic product, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has called on countries in the region to similarly ramp up their military expenditures.

Polish defense leaders, in turn, said they want to engage the U.S. industry in joint ammunition manufacturing.

On the last leg of his European tour, during which he also stopped in Germany and Belgium, Hegseth visited Poland where he held talks on Friday with Polish President Andrzej Duda and Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, the country’s deputy prime minister and defense minister.

In the aftermath of Russia’s attack against Ukraine in February 2022, Poland has positioned itself as one of the invaded country’s staunchest allies. Warsaw has delivered large volumes of weapons and gear to Kyiv, but also pushed for Ukraine’s future accession to the alliance.

However, on Feb. 12, two days before Hegseth’s talks in Warsaw, Kosiniak-Kamysz conceded during a press conference in Brussels that, as Washington opposes inviting Ukraine to join NATO, “there will be no such invitation.”

In Warsaw, Hegseth praised Poland for continuing to raise its defense spending, saying the country was “leading by example on a lot of things.”

“I do want to emphasize that it’s quite intentional that our first European bilateral is right here, in Poland. The symbolism is not lost. In fact, it is intentional,” Hegseth said at a joint press conference with Kosiniak-Kamysz. “We see Poland as the model ally on the continent, willing to invest not just in their defense, but in our shared defense, and the defense of the continent.”

In 2025, the Polish government plans to spend a total of PLN 186.6 billion ($47.1 billion) on the country’s military. This would represent an increase of PLN 27.8 billion compared with a year earlier, according to data released by the Polish Ministry of National Defence.

“Europe must spend more to protect its territory better. The United States wants to cooperate, and the United States will do everything possible for the alliance to be stronger. But Europe also must demonstrate its contribution,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said.

The deputy prime minister also said his country is preparing “further acquisitions in the United States” for its military.

“We also want to develop the cooperation of our defense industries, we also talked about that. Investments in joint ventures, Polish-American investments to increase the capabilities for our production, especially the capacity to produce ammunition,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said.

The Polish official gave a nod to his country’s new fund of around PLN 3 billion ($758 million) to support investments by domestic and foreign players in expanding the country’s ammunition manufacturing capacities, with a particular focus on 155 mm artillery shells.

Hegseth replied that Washington is looking for additional ways to intensify the U.S. defense industry’s cooperation with Poland, and mentioned a number of major defense contracts Poland has awarded to the U.S. over the past years.

“Apaches, F-35s, HIMARS, Patriots, you name it. The more you have, the stronger we are,” he said. “The more we can cooperate with those systems, the more interoperable our capabilities are, the better.”

“We’re looking for new ways to partner. You mentioned joint ventures, strategic partnerships. We are open” to such cooperation, Hegseth said.

Following Duda’s meeting with Hegseth on the same day, the Polish president’s office released a statement in which it said local officials are looking forward to the forthcoming visit by retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, President Trump’s special envoy for the war in Ukraine.

Kellogg is expected to visit Poland to discuss “the beginning of serious talks on stopping Russian aggression against Ukraine,” Duda was quoted in the statement.

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

波兰华沙——波兰的国防预算即将达到该国历史上前所未有的水平，占国内生产总值的 4.7%，美国国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯呼吁该地区各国也大幅增加军费开支。

波兰国防领导人则表示，他们希望与美国工业界合作，共同生产弹药。

在欧洲之行的最后一站，赫格塞斯还访问了德国和比利时，并在周五访问了波兰，与波兰总统安杰伊·杜达和该国副总理兼国防部长瓦迪斯瓦夫·科西尼亚克-卡梅什举行了会谈。

在俄罗斯于2022年2月入侵乌克兰之后，波兰将自己定位为这个被入侵国家最坚定的盟友之一。华沙向基辅提供了大量武器装备，同时也积极推动乌克兰未来加入联盟。

然而，在赫格塞斯于华沙举行会谈的两天前，即 2 月 12 日，科西尼亚克-卡梅什在布鲁塞尔举行的新闻发布会上承认，由于华盛顿反对邀请乌克兰加入北约，“因此不会发出这样的邀请”。

在华沙，赫格塞斯赞扬波兰继续增加国防开支，称该国“在很多方面都起到了榜样作用”。

“我想强调的是，我们首次欧洲双边会谈选择在波兰举行，这绝非偶然。其象征意义不言而喻。事实上，这正是我们有意为之。”赫格塞斯在与科西尼亚克-卡梅什举行的联合新闻发布会上说道。“我们视波兰为欧洲大陆的模范盟友，他们不仅愿意投资于自身的国防，也愿意投资于我们共同的国防以及整个欧洲大陆的国防。”

根据波兰国防部公布的数据，波兰政府计划在2025年为该国军队投入总计1866亿兹罗提（约合471亿美元）。这将比上一年增加278亿兹罗提。

科西尼亚克-卡米什表示：“欧洲必须投入更多资金来更好地保护其领土。美国希望合作，并将尽一切可能加强联盟。但欧洲也必须展现出自身的贡献。”

副总理还表示，他的国家正在准备“从美国进一步采购”军方装备。

科西尼亚克-卡米什说：“我们也希望发展国防工业领域的合作，我们也讨论过这个问题。投资合资企业，波兰和美国共同投资，以提高我们的生产能力，特别是弹药生产能力。”

这位波兰官员对该国新设立的约 30 亿兹罗提（7.58 亿美元）的基金表示认可，该基金旨在支持国内外企业投资扩大该国的弹药制造能力，尤其侧重于 155 毫米炮弹的生产。

赫格塞斯回应说，华盛顿正在寻求更多途径来加强美国国防工业与波兰的合作，并提到了波兰在过去几年中授予美国的多项重大国防合同。

“阿帕奇直升机、F-35战斗机、HIMARS导弹系统、爱国者导弹系统，等等等等。拥有的越多，我们就越强大，”他说道。“我们与这些系统的合作越多，我们的作战能力就越能实现互操作，这就越好。”

“我们正在寻找新的合作方式。你提到了合资企业和战略伙伴关系。我们对这种合作持开放态度，”赫格塞斯说。

在杜达与赫格塞斯于同一天会面后，波兰总统办公室发表声明称，当地官员期待着特朗普总统派往乌克兰战争的特使、退役将军基思·凯洛格即将到来的访问。

声明援引杜达的话说，凯洛格预计将访问波兰，讨论“开始就制止俄罗斯对乌克兰的侵略进行严肃谈判”。

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。