Mariusz Błaszczak made the announcement at a conference with senior army commanders in Warsaw, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
He told the conference that, under its new homeland defence law, Poland would increase army numbers to 300,000 and defence spending to 3 percent of GDP.
‘Real deterrence potential’
“We seek to create a real deterrence potential,” Błaszczak said.
He added that "besides bigger numbers," the Polish army needed state-of-the-art equipment given “the attempts to resurrect the evil empire, which is the ambition of the dictator from the Kremlin.”
‘Poland must become a superpower in artillery’
He also said that Poland would buy “six more batteries of the Patriot anti-ballistic missile system” as well as “500 more M142 HIMARS light multiple rocket launchers.”
Błaszczak told the conference that “the war in Ukraine has shown the importance of artillery and so Poland must become a superpower in artillery.”
He added that Poland would also buy “tried and tested South Korean equipment,” including K2 tanks, and order new minesweepers, remote-controlled turret systems, domestically produced AW149 multi-role helicopters and two observation satellites, among other hardware.
Two new army divisions
Błaszczak also said that Poland would create “two new army divisions” to be stationed “along the Vistula river, in central Poland” in response to the war in neighbouring Ukraine.
He added that the aim was for Poland to eventually have "six tactical groups."
Błaszczak’s announcements came as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continued for the 110th day.
Meanwhile, President Andrzej Duda, who also took part in the meeting, said that Poland has provided Ukraine with a total of USD 1.7 billion in military aid, more than it has ever allocated to any other single country.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, onet.pl