Defence expenditure a top priority for Poland
Dominik Kimla, an Industry Analyst for Aerospace, Defence & Security group at Frost & Sullivan, commented that in contrast with most of the EU member states, where spending on military is declining as a result of the financial crisis, defence expenditure in Poland will increase from $8.84bn in 2012 to $10.55bn in 2015.
During the same period spending on defence investment (equipment procurement and R&D), which accounts for about 25% of total defence expenditure, is also expected to grow from $2.21bn in 2012 to $2.64bn in 2015. Throughout the next four years a few significant defence tenders will be finalised, the biggest among them are; training and simulation systems, (including Integrated System for Pilot Training), utility helicopter, air and missile defence, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and command and control systems.
As a result of relatively high level of defence expenditure (1.95% of the previous year’s GDP), Poland will maintain its position as the regional leader in terms of defence spending and also joins the club of emerging economies alongside Brazil, India and Russia.