There's a new military superpower dawning on the European continent, and no it's not
France, Germany, or even Britain.
Poland has decided it's done messing around, and is arming itself to the teeth- but why
is Poland apparently preparing itself for World War III.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has served as an alarm bell for a Europe that for three
decades was content to let the United States do all its military heavy lifting- while naturally
complaining endlessly about US militarization.
However, the explosion of war in its backyard has snapped European powers out of their comfortable
post-Cold War victory naps, and suddenly the continent has remembered that there's a serious
military threat right next door and America is still an entire ocean away.
Forget the baguettes and berets, it's time to start buying guns again.
But Europe can hardly be blamed for dropping the ball on their own defense spending.
After decades of being prepared to wage an apocalyptic battle for global survival, the
west breathed a collective sigh of relief and billions of dollars in military spending
was re-purposed to civilian projects.
Armies were demobilized, budgets slashed, and a lot of military kit was either thrown
into deep storage or donated to developing countries.
With the rise of extremism, European militaries focused on waging small, regional conflicts
with logistics handled almost entirely by the US.
The next major war would be won with hugs, or simply not fought at all as Europe tried
to bring Russia into the fold by deepening trade relations with their cranky neighbor.
Yet all Europe managed to do was give Russia incredible leverage over them, because Russia
wasn't done fighting wars to advance its national agenda.
When war broke out in Ukraine, Europe was caught with its pants down- and despite having
a combined GDP many times greater than Russia, they cannot out-supply Russia inside Ukraine.
Poland was quick to take note though, and overnight the country went on a dizzying shopping
spree for all kinds of new military kit.
Poland has good reason to want to buy absolute mountains of new tanks and other gear- and
that is not an exaggeration.
Had Russia's invasion of Ukraine been planned by anyone more competent, Poland could have
found itself at ground zero of a new military struggle for Europe- and the major European
powers could have done little if anything to help the nation.
Britain has been in decline as a military power for decades now, with its military shrinking
to half of its size at the end of the Cold War.
As an island nation, Britain's most important capability is its ability to send expeditonary
forces abroad, and yet during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan the British military
got the nickname of 'the borrowers', for their tendency of bartering for pieces of kit they
were missing.
Meanwhile their navy has been in significant decline, with ships having to in effect be
mothballed so their crews can be used elsewhere.
In 2021 Britain's parliamentary Defense Committee delivered a scathing report outlying significant
problems with the Royal Navy, including a critical lack of offensive capability and
too few surface ships and submarines.
Germany is facing its own significant issues.
Maintenance problems from a lack of qualified technicians as well as spare parts has meant
that German pilots aren't getting the number of hours in the cockpit they need to remain
proficient.
The country is also incapable of meeting NATO's rapid response requirements without cannibalizing
other units, leaving it in serious risk of being incapable of fighting a protracted conflict.
France is about the only European power to maintain a significant military capability.
We actually have little to criticize about France, except that its expeditionary capabilities
are still slightly lacking- but experience gained in counter-terrorism operations in
Africa is helping rectify the problem.
We're not picking on Europe unfairly though, the simple fact is that the continent has
been coasting on the back of the US military for decades.
The Royal Navy prioritized retiring logistics vessels as a cost-saving measure- why?
Because any conflict they foresaw fighting would involve the United States and its massive
logistics capabilities.
Germany retired much of its ground-based air defenses- why?
Because any war it would be involved in would have assumed air superiority largely thanks
to the United States.
Since the Cold War ended, Europe evolved into a power that would compliment US warfighting
abilities, rather than be a battlefield force of its own.
Given the fact that Europe's favorite historical pastime was mercilessly slaughtering each
other for thousands of years though, this may not have been such a bad thing.
Poland has seen which way the wind is blowing, and that it cannot rely on its European allies
for national defense.
The US military is the most powerful in the world, but it's also half a planet away, and
if history is anything to go by- and it absolutely is if you're Poland- then by the time the
US Army arrives in Europe in force, Poland would already be a battleground.
Perhaps no nation in the world is as cursed as Poland, which has historically served as
a convenient middle ground for major European armies to batter each other to pieces.
That's because the nation has basically no defensive geographical features, allowing
invaders to casually stroll right on in at their leisure.
Poland is done being Europe's punching bag, and is aiming to field the most capable military
inside of Europe.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki spoke to the nation on the eve of its independence
day, stating, “The Polish army must be so powerful that it does not have to fight due
to its strength alone.”
Judging by the amounts of weapon orders it's been putting in, this is far more fact than
wishful thinking.
Poland is raising its defense spending from 2.4 percent of their GDP to a whopping 5 percent-
this is more than even the United States.
It also puts its other NATO partners to shame, who have largely struggled to meet the bare
minimum requirement set by the alliance of 2%.
This is a long-term commitment too, as the country is determined to double the size of
its military by 2035, from 150,000 to 300,000.
Those troops are going to need combat gear though, and Poland is buying it in spades.
In exchange for sending 240 Soviet-made tanks to Ukraine, the US cut Poland a deal for 250
Abrams, a significant upgrade to its land forces.
But the nation was paying very close attention to the fighting in Ukraine, and made a direct
bid to Lockheed Martin to buy around 500 HIMARS units.
This was an incredible order, and would have made Poland as big an operator of HIMARs as
the United States.
Unfortunately the US was itself procuring units to replace those sent to Ukraine and
to make even more available to the country.
Given that the war in Ukraine has been basically one giant commercial for Lockheed Martin,
it's no surprise that other nations were already in line to buy the vaunted guided rocket artillery-
with even the US wishing to beef up its own numbers.
With the US in effect sold out for the forseeable future, Poland turned to South Korea for its
guided rocket artillery need, signing an order for 288 Chunmoo platforms (https://frontierindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/K239-Chunmoo-rocket-launcher.webp?ezimgfmt=ng%3Awebp%2Fngcb1).
Similar to HIMARS only beefier, the Chunmoo can carry twice as many rockets as HIMARS-
though at the cost of mobility.
With a significant standing army in the works though, Poland believes the trade off is worth
it- its rocket artillery will have to do less hiding thanks to major investments in other
areas of its military.
This includes the air force, with Poland signing an agreement to buy 32 F-35s.
But Poland shocked the world when it once more returned to South Korea for multiple
military purchases- in effect, sourcing almost all of its new purchases from the nation.
Purchases include a fleet of 48 FA-50s.
These are meant to replace its aging fleet of Migs, and will compliment its inventory
of F-16s and soon, F-35s.
While Poland won't have a major air force anytime soon, it's well on its way to being
a significant threat to Russia should it ever make the mistake of crossing into its air
space.
Beefing up its traditional tube artillery, Poland is also buying 648 K9 howitzers from
South Korea.
This will make Poland one of, if not the biggest artillery power in Europe aside from Russia-
especially when coupled with its purchase of 288 Chunmoo MLRS.
By far the highest profile item on Poland's shopping list though, and one that has really
annoyed its neighbors, is the purchase of nearly one thousand K2 main battle tanks.
The K2 was indigenously designed by South Korea, and is believed to be a highly capable
modern tank.
Its real capabilities are unknown though, as the tank has never seen combat and the
South Korean government isn't in a hurry to make classified data public.
Most observers however have full confidence in the K2, though Russian defense analysts
are puzzled by the design decision to not have the tank launch its crew into orbit upon
taking a hit from an anti-tank missile.
The main concern raised by Poland's purchase however is that the K2 was specifically built
for a war South Korea expected to fight on its relatively hilly terrain- a far cry from
the flat European plain.
How the K2 will fare here is anyone's guess, and hopefully we'll never have to find out.
Poland's South Korean spending spree has made the two countries absolutely chummy, and that's
something that's really annoyed the rest of Europe.
Home to many great tank manufacturers, Europe is frankly puzzled at Poland's decision to
purchase tanks from a nation half a world away, specially when its logistics will depend
on easily disrupted supply routes that literally span the planet.
But the decision makes a lot of sense if South Korea plans to break into the global arms
market, and if the nation builds maintenance facilities inside of Poland itself.
This will secure Poland's logistics needs and open the door to the European arms market
for South Korea, a deal that benefits both sides.
Germany has famously been the United States' most important European ally, but now Germany
has become nothing more than a logistics hub for the American military.
With the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Poland has now become America's most important European
ally, and the relationship was cemented by US officials commenting on the fact.
Perhaps unsurprising given its proximity to Russia, Poland was the loudest voice calling
for Europe to aid Ukraine, and threw its doors open to Ukrainian refugees.
Its air fields and transport networks were immediately made available to US and other
foreign aid flowing into Ukraine, and when a Ukrainian air defense missile landed in
Poland and killed several people, the nation put the blame squarely on Russia for necessitating
the launch of air defenses by Ukraine in the first place.
Given Poland's history and tenuous strategic position in Europe, it's no surprise that
it's incredibly invested in the outcome of the war in Ukraine.
What is surprising however is the incredible speed with which the country has moved to
bolster its defenses, and the willingness to work with the United States to arm Ukraine.
Given its position inside of Europe, and the military capabilities it will soon field,
it's easy to see why Poland will soon trump the rest of the European powers as America's
most important ally in the region.
What remains to be seen however is if the nation will go through with all of its planned
purchases- especially if the war in Ukraine ends sooner than expected and the Polish population
grows weary of the incredible price tags some of these weapons come with.
Now go check out NATO World War III Plan, or click this other video instead!