Poland to spend $750M to boost munitions production

PHOTO CAPTION: A soldier in the Polish Naval Special Forces Unit GROM fires at multiple targets using his pistol at a range outside of a Portuguese Marine Base during NATO exercise Trident Juncture 15, Lisbon, Portugal, Oct. 26, 2015. (NATO photo via Wikimedia Commons)

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland plans to invest 3 billion zlotys ($750 million) to boost ammunition production, according to a bill published late on Monday, aiming to ensure it has sufficient supplies in the event of an attack from Russia.

Since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Poland has become NATO's biggest spender on defence in relation to the size of its economy, with the 2025 budget allocating 4.7% of gross domestic product for the purpose.

"The draft act aims to create opportunities to provide financing for activities aimed at increasing the capacity for ammunition production," the bill says, with a particular need to expand large-caliber production to bolster the potential of the Polish Armed Forces.

The government aims to adopt the bill during the fourth quarter, according to its website.

Some NATO officials have said the Kremlin might be ready militarily to attack NATO countries in five to eight years' time, once it has rebuilt its forces after the war in Ukraine. Moscow has regularly dismissed Western suggestions that it might consider an attack on NATO.

In September Marcin Idzik, a board member of the state-owned Polish Armaments Group (PGZ), told Reuters that Warsaw aimed to ramp up its production of 155 mm artillery rounds.

($1 = 3.9997 zlotys)





(This story has been corrected to fix the first name of PGZ board member to Marcin, not Maciej, in paragraph 6)



(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz, Barbara Erling; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)