Despite 'dronization', tanks must also continue to roll off the production line in Poland

The silhouettes of three roaring tanks appear between the trees in the border area between Poland and Russia. Seven kilometers away is the border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. If a war breaks out, it will probably be fought here.

“Our mission is as always: to prepare for the defense of the country, said Brigadier General Roman Brudlo of Poland's 9th Armored Cavalry Brigade. He watches his tanks roll through the muddy fields. The brigade works with brand new South Korean K2s, which, according to Brudlo, have "all the features" for this forest and lake-rich area.

They replace, among other things, older weaponry that Poland gave away to Ukraine after the large-scale invasion. Four years later, the NATO member state has started a new large-scale investment round for its own defense, now with a large EU loan at a favorable interest rate from the SAFE program. Poland will receive almost 44 billion euros to strengthen its own defense.

From defense lines at the border to our own arms industry. The intention is for the loan to make member states in the east of EU and NATO territory less dependent on arms imports from outside the continent. Especially now that one of the most important arms producers, the US, may no longer be a reliable partner.

It was previously decided to set up a factory in Poland for the K2s, so that they can be produced on home soil. The plan is to produce as many as a thousand K2s. This is precisely the goal of SAFE: the further development of defense production in Europe. It is characteristic of the great ambitions since the war in the neighboring country.

While NATO countries only agreed last year on a new defense standard of 5 percent of GDP by 2035, Poland is already close to that target. Warsaw announces one defense project after another. In Poland, Russia's neighbor, they feel the threat like no other.

Last summer, twenty Russian drones flew into the airspace. In the autumn, a trail was blown up by saboteurs, according to Polish justice on behalf of Russia. In the meantime, the Polish government warns that Russia may be preparing a new provocation in the coming months to test NATO's resolve.

Changed warfare Although there is now also a fundamental discussion going on about where all that money should go, given the rapid developments in warfare in Ukraine. Like the Netherlands, Poland is working on its own drone capabilities with the help of Kyiv. And are the large expenditures, for example on the large numbers of tanks, still logical?

Because in Ukraine, these systems largely remain in the garage, because they are an easy target for drones. In Brudlo's brigade they wave away those objections. “The war in Ukraine is the war in Ukraine, says one of the sergeants who has climbed out of his new tank.

“We are here to train with our own doctrines. The 'dronization' of the battlefield is indeed a challenge for NATO and the entire eastern flank, says Professor of Strategic Studies Dariusz Kozerawski. The former colonel is affiliated with the Jagiellonian University of Krakow.