Poland to spend $4.3 billion on building a wall against drones on the border
31 January 11:17
Poland is beginning to build defenses against drones on its eastern border. On Friday, January 30, the State Armament Agency signed a contract with the state-owned company Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa and Norway’s Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace for PLN 15 billion ($4.3 billion), Bloomberg reports, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
The system is to be ready within two years and will be based on a multi-level network of radars, jammers, machine guns, and small missiles.
“There is no other example in Europe of such an integrated, intelligent anti-drone system,” said Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
The need to create a drone wall in the EU was discussed last fall after about 20 Russian drones entered Polish territory and unknown aircraft began to regularly appear at airports, military bases, and other important facilities in a number of other countries.
Poland wasted no time in developing a defense system. It will be partially financed by defense loans from the Security of Europe through Finance (SAFE) program. SAFE has a total budget of €150 billion, of which about €44 billion is earmarked for Poland.
This makes the country, which is on the front line of NATO, the largest recipient of funds under the SAFE program.
Norway’s Kongsberg will invest $1.7 billion in anti-drone protection.
Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz recently spoke about the need to create “Europe’s largest anti-drone system.” According to him, the system will include “various types of weapons,” and its construction is due to “urgent operational necessity.”
It could become part of a high-tech defense line that NATO countries are creating on their eastern flank along the border with Russia and Belarus. This line will be equipped with sensors that will detect the enemy and activate connected weapons—combat drones, semi-autonomous combat vehicles, unmanned robotic ground systems, automated air and missile defense systems, said Bundeswehr Brigadier General Thomas Lövén, deputy chief of staff for operations.
