Poland preparing €2bn anti-drone fortifications along its eastern border amid Russian threat | Poland

Poland plans to complete a new series of anti-drone fortifications along its eastern borders within two years, a senior defense official said, following a major incursion into Polish airspace by unmanned Russian air combat vehicles earlier this year.

Deputy defense minister Cezary Tomczyk told the Guardian in an interview in Warsaw: “We expect to achieve initial capabilities of the system in about six months, maybe even sooner. And it will take 24 months for the entire system to be completed.”

Tomczyk said the new air defense systems will be integrated into the old line of protection built a decade ago. He said it would include different layers of defense, including machine guns, artillery, missiles and drone jamming systems.

“Some of these are only for use in extreme situations or combat conditions. For example, these multi-barreled machine guns are difficult to use in peacetime because everything that goes up must come down,” he said.

More than a dozen suspected Russian drones entered Polish airspace in September; This incident resulted in the closure of airports, scrambling of warplanes, and damage to buildings on the ground as drones were shot down. Foreign minister Radosław Sikorski told the Guardian at the time that the attacks, which involved drones carrying no munitions, were Russia’s attempt to “test us without starting a war”.

Since then, Poland has updated the plans it was already working on to strengthen its eastern borders. While no anti-drone system has been fully effective against the systematic and mass targeting that Ukraine has been subjected to, European countries on the eastern flank are scrambling to upgrade their systems to counter the new threat. Tomczyk said the project would cost more than €2bn (£1.75bn) and would be financed mostly by European funds under the SAFE (Security Action for Europe) defense loan programme, as well as some contributions to the state budget.

During almost four years of full-scale war in Ukraine, Poland has increasingly found itself in a state of war, as cases of sabotage and arson by Polish services linked to Russian intelligence agencies have increased. It is planned to train hundreds of thousands of the country’s citizens in survival skills, while others will receive voluntary military training.

In addition to the anti-drone wall, Poland is also building fortifications along its land borders with Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, known as the Eastern Shield, aimed at preventing a future Russian invasion. Tomczyk said special logistics centers will be built in each border municipality where equipment to help close the border will be stored, ready to be deployed within a few hours.

“The truth is that as long as Ukraine defends itself and fights with Russia, Europe does not face the risk of war in the traditional sense of the word. Instead, we will face provocations and acts of sabotage,” Tomczyk said. But if the West lets Russia win in Ukraine, it won’t be long before the Kremlin sets its sights on Europe, he said.

Poland increased defense spending to 4.7 percent of GDP due to ongoing fears about Russia’s hybrid operations and potential military threats to the country; this is one of the highest rates in the European Union.

“Today, Ukraine spends about 40% of its GDP on war, and anyone wondering what percentage we should allocate to the military should ask themselves whether it is better to increase spending, say, from 2% to 3% or 3.5%, or then let it rise from 2% to 40%,” Tomczyk said.

Asked whether Russia has military designs on Poland, as it does on Ukraine, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has long said is at the center of Russian identity, Tomczyk drew attention to the long history of Russia’s aggression and expansionism in eastern Europe. “Like Orwell’s 1984,” messages about the enemy of the day can be changed quickly, he said.

“These conquests function mainly as a political means of maintaining power: a recurring motif in Russian history. The government needs to show that it is strong, that it commands a strong army, that no one should dare to challenge it. In this sense, foreign war becomes an internal tool in Russia,” he said.