The announcement comes as Poland seeks to emulate Ukraine’s drone industry.

Poland is looking to significantly bolster its domestic production and acquisition of uncrewed systems, the Ministry of National Defence (MND) said in a press release on 24 April.

The statement came amid a ministerial visit to the 1st Warsaw Armoured Brigade and asserted that “there will be no safe Poland without an army of drones”.

Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, met with around 40 companies, stating his intent to build “an army consisting of hundreds of thousands of drones, and the ability to produce millions”. 

Recognising the need for a combination of iteration and scalability, Kosiniak-Kamysz said that “drones change very quickly”. “To stay up to date you cannot buy many drones for the so-called reserve” he added, suggesting that they would be outdated quickly.

Poland – which has an over 200km border with Russia – is sharing the phrase with the army of drones project which Ukraine established in 2022. That particular scheme raised funds for hundreds of aerial reconnaissance drones.

“In all domains, in all units, every soldier of the Polish army will have contact with drones. This is our ambition. This is our goal. We see what is happening in Ukraine”, Kosiniak-Kamysz continued.

Ukraine now has capacity to produce over four million drones annually, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in October 2024, something which Poland is seeking to emulate to deter Russia.

Which drones will Poland acquire?

Kosiniak-Kamysz highlighted the need to develop and purchase various sizes and types of drone, including “the smallest and the large ones that are with us here today - surveillance drones, strike drones, kamikaze drones”.

Drawing attention to the creation of Poland’s Inspectorate for 'Unmanned Aerial Systems Forces' on 1 January 2025, the Secretary of State Paweł Bejda reiterated that the MND is looking to acquire drones for all domains.

The Polish context

The initiative comes amid a major modernisation programme, which has seen Poland invest billions of euros in new military assets since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Poland's defence spending has risen dramatically from the NATO target of 2.5% of GDP in 2022, to a projected 4.7% in 2025.

In addition, Poland is also considering the use of EU recovery funds to finance its domestic defence industry, Polish Minister of Funds and Regional Policy, Katarzyna Pelczynska-Nalecz, told Reuters on 21 February.

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