The expenses of the Ministry of Defence will scope the evidence amount of PLN 186.6 billion next year. There will be more soldiers, increases for uniforms, purchases of modern individual equipment, Borsuk transporters or investments in ammunition production. But these are only a fewer objectives included in the draft MON budget for 2025. The paper has already been welcomed by the Parliamentary Defence Committee.
Eighteen people “in favour”, eleven abstained, no 1 was “against”. This is the balance sheet (17.10) of the vote by members of the Sejm Committee on National Defence on affirmative opinion Draft budget for 2025 in the National Defence sectionStanislaw Wąątek, Undersecretary of State of the MON, who referred to the Members of the Commission with the planned expenditures, stressed at the outset that the budget was record-breaking. In the years 2022 and 2023 respectively, PLN 137.1 billion and PLN 158.8 billion were spent on defence. The next year's amount of PLN 186.6 billion refers to funds reserved in the budget and in the Armed Forces Support Fund, which together represents 4.7% of GDP. The MON budget alone is expected to spend PLN 124.3 million.
– This percent is highly satisfactory and ahead of all another actions of allied states as regards the financing of the armed forces, argued Deputy Minister of Takes. “These are measures that will safeguard the accomplishment of the main objectives and priorities of the tasks facing the armed forces,” he explained.
By listing the main objectives and financial tasks facing the Ministry of Defence, He started with the request to increase military numbers, training, method modernisation process and implementation of allied commitments. The amounts provided by the Deputy Minister referred, among others, to the implementation of non-military defence preparations programmes (273 million PLN), investigation and defence projects, included in the field of higher education and discipline (250 million PLN), and expenditure on the functioning of organizational units, universal prosecution and competent in military matters (147 million PLN).
Among the material tasks, the precedence is to increase the number of armed forces by 22 537 soldiers and 200 officers of the SKW and SWW. Next year the Polish army is to have 229 1000 soldiers and 3521 intelligence and counterintelligence officers, including 150 1000 professional soldiers, 44 1000 territorial soldiers of military service and 35 1000 soldiers of voluntary essential military service.
Other budgetary priorities are the improvement of an air defence and rocket command support system, the expansion of infrastructure corresponding to increased individual status, the strengthening of the presence of allies and the implementation of training, including national and global exercises and training. The Undersecretary announced that six major national exercises and the same global exercises were planned for 2025.
MON – as Deputy Minister of Takes said – besides wants to finance tasks related to the improvement of students' defence awareness secondary schools and higher education institutions and maintaining the ability to carry out defence tasks by public administrations and entrepreneurs.
The Ministry of Defence besides planned to increase wages (on average by 5% of base amounts and wage fund) and uniform pensions (+6%). Valorisations of pensions, payment of 13th and 14th pensions are to cover almost 159 1000 recipients.
After proceeding the speech of the deputy chief of the MON, Members asked, among others, about Expenditure on civilian defence (not included in the budget of the Defence Ministry), plans to acquisition ammunition or execution of the order for BWP Borsuk. Deputy Minister of Takes recalled that the National Ammunition Reserve is simply a classified programme, so it cannot publically discuss details of the plan for the acquisition of ammunition by the MON. However, he gave PLN 4.128 billion for this purpose. He stressed that the ministry wanted not only to supply the military with adequate missiles, but also, for Polish weapons plants to produce ammunition – especially Artillery 155 mm.
The MON typical besides assured the readiness to acquisition BWP Badger no later than early 2025. Let's remind you, Framework agreement signed in February 2023 A year by the Armed Forces Agency and Huta Stalowa Wola assumed to supply the Polish army with 1000 Badgers and 400 peculiar vehicles based on the same chassis. There was no circumstantial number of combat vehicles that would shortly enter the military at the committee meeting.
– The new, very crucial aspect is “Speak” programme. We want to connect him to at least any part Titan programme – said Take. He acknowledged that he knew ‘directly from soldiers’ what they needed (‘from night imagination goggles to capes’). “This equipment is now ordered and will be mostly implemented by Polish industry,” added Stanisław Wzątek.
I will proceed to debate the draft budget in plenary if the paper is approved by the majority of Members in the Senate. The budget bill adopted by both chambers of parliament must be signed by the President.
