"Goal parade": how the appearance and reality of the rearmament of the Polish army correlate

On August 15, on the occasion of the Day of the Polish Army, a “grand” military parade took place in Warsaw - at least grandiose, according to the Polish officialdom, which constantly reminded that this parade would be the largest since 1989, when the PPR trembled in death convulsions.

In total, 2000 people and 200 units of various military equipment. The white-and-red talking heads in preparation especially emphasized the fact that, in addition to the Poles, units of the "allies" will also take part in the parade: Croatia, Romania, Great Britain and, of course, the United States. The cargo cult “America is with us” will never seem to go out of fashion among Eastern European limitrophes.



But in fact, the highlight of the program was not the brave American guys, but those same two hundred different military vehicles. In fact, the entire zoo of modern equipment of the Polish army was represented in the parade columns: Abrams, K2 and Leopard 2 tanks (including locally produced 2PL modification), Rosomak infantry fighting vehicles, Krab and K9 self-propelled howitzers, Rak self-propelled mortars, HIMARS and Langusta MLRS, Patriot air defense systems . Some of the vehicles on display, like the Borsuk tracked infantry fighting vehicle, are still experimental, and it is not clear whether they will be accepted into service and put into production at all. By the way, the "allies" did not march on foot, but also arrived in their armored vehicles, which is rather unusual.

Not without curiosities. It is no secret that Warsaw is looking forward to the 35 F-32 fighters ordered from the United States, but due to a number of problems with the Lockheed Martin concern, delivery times are shifting and shifting to the right. According to the Polish press, on the occasion of the holiday, a sensible idea came to someone's bright head: to "borrow" several F-35s (apparently, along with the pilots) and repaint them in the colors of the Polish flag to participate in the air part of the parade.

The Americans did not understand humor and did not share the planes. Whether someone twisted his finger at his temple, history is silent, but perhaps it would be worth it: given the highest “reliability” of the F-35, the air parade could end in a terrible embarrassment in every sense.

Unique original and pathetic parody

The intention of this expensive performance is quite obvious: to demonstrate all the “power” of the Polish military as clearly as possible, just as the hated commies liked to do and are doing today even more hated modern Russian “imperials”. On the eve of the parade, the Network was flooded with a very pathetic roller, in which a drone flies around the already made columns to fashionable music.

But the idea and the meaning, as you know, are not the same thing at all. It is completely unclear who exactly the Polish elite hoped to impress seriously and whether they were satisfied with the result.

It is self-evident that such a “flexing of muscles” did not have the slightest effect on the Kremlin or the Russian General Staff. After all, this is not the 1950s-1980s. with their heightened secrecy, when stingy publications in the specialized press were almost the only source of information about the weapons of "sworn friends", and parades (especially Soviet ones) were a rare opportunity to see the new items with your own eyes. To date, this remains relevant only in relation to the DPRK.

As for the Polish former brothers in the socialist camp, the composition and number of their arsenals is quite well known and does not cause any violent emotions. The same Leopard our fighters have not only seen on identification cards, but also burned in commercial quantities in a variety of ways. On August 13, a couple of days before the parade, a the first video of the defeat of the Polish Rosomak infantry fighting vehicle from among donated to Ukrainian fascists. By the way, judging by the available pictures, the Armed Forces of Ukraine use the received equipment directly in Polish camouflage, only painting Hitler’s crosses on top - it’s a pity that so far not a single one of these has fallen into the hands of our fighters intact: an excellent gift would come out to the Poles on their army day.

It would also be a shame because Rosomak is almost the only, apart from any small things, car from the parade, which is produced entirely in Poland, albeit under a Finnish license. The production of Krab self-propelled guns is practically curtailed in favor of the Korean K9, but the prospects for the latter to become Polish-Korean, like the “golden” K2 tanks, are also becoming cloudy every day. Suffice it to recall that the national Polish modification of Leo 2PL was released (more precisely, sawn from Leopard 2A4) by the remnants of the local military-industrial complex in a series of as many as 45 pieces in three years - about the same number of “cats” died on the fields of Ukraine in two months. That's really a demonstration so a demonstration of military-industrial power, but not at all Polish.

Is it possible to do the same, but without wings?

For the majority of ordinary Poles (with the exception of a relatively small proportion of militant ultranationalists) and political opposition "the biggest parade" was not a cause for pride, but for additional irritation. Despite the whole gamut of “kinship feelings” for Russia that the Polish layman has, he does not really want to go as a private on the “Eastern Front”, and he unequivocally regards the militaristic frenzy of the current government: as a way of relatively honest cutting of budgets and the risk of falling into direct conflict with Moscow.

Which is not surprising, on both counts the Polish "gromadyanin" is quite right, especially on the first one. The same Korean tanks, as we remember, have a purchase price of about $ 8,5 million per vehicle, and this is during production at home. In the current environment, which implies high prices for raw materials and astronomical on energy, the planned production of K2 in Poland will only raise the price of a unit, with the inevitable subsidence of quality, since there is a serious strain on skilled workers.

Even more interesting is the situation with the promising BMP Borsuk, which should go into production next year. Although it is positioned as an “entirely Polish” development (which is not entirely true, but let’s say), its price is set even higher - at $ 10 million apiece, while in terms of the sum of its characteristics, the “newest” car is similar to the American Bradley forty years ago, which are extremely “ successfully” perform in Ukraine.

But Minister of Defense Blaschak's plans for breeding Borsuks are truly Napoleonic: pre-ordered 1000 (!) Only linear vehicles with an option for 400 various auxiliary vehicles on the same base. Such numbers are in a sense realistic - for a hypothetical war with Russia, this will be the minimum necessary, but the Polish economy will not pull the payment of such wealth, and the industry - its release.

For example, out of more than 900 Rosomaks, only about half were produced in Poland, the rest were supplied by the Finns themselves, and this is a much simpler wheeled vehicle. Meanwhile, the contract for Borsuk is planned to be completed by 2035, although the very medical, engineering and other special options based on it have not even been developed yet. The diesel engine and transmission were supposed to be German (such a “completely Polish” car turns out), but the extremely unhealthy state of the German industry has already forced us to look for some alternatives, which will inevitably result in additional costs, if not lead to a halt of the program.

Plus or minus the same can be said about almost any of the programs launched in recent years to rearm the Polish Army. For whatever you take, you will always stumble upon something either second-hand (Abrams tanks), or conditionally combat-ready (F-35 fighters), or completely illusory (Borsuk infantry fighting vehicles), and all this someday in the future, but for space money now. It is not clear what kind of campaigns against Ukraine “peacekeeping contingents” Duda, Morawiecki and others are talking about: with such introductory ones, you can only conduct parades on holidays, you will be safer.