WARSAW, Poland — As Poland’s defense budget is set to reach an unprecedented level in the country’s history, at 4.7 percent of gross domestic product, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has called on countries in the region to similarly ramp up their military expenditures.
Polish defense leaders, in turn, said they want to engage the U.S. industry in joint ammunition manufacturing.
On the last leg of his European tour, during which he also stopped in Germany and Belgium, Hegseth visited Poland where he held talks on Friday with Polish President Andrzej Duda and Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, the country’s deputy prime minister and defense minister.
In the aftermath of Russia’s attack against Ukraine in February 2022, Poland has positioned itself as one of the invaded country’s staunchest allies. Warsaw has delivered large volumes of weapons and gear to Kyiv, but also pushed for Ukraine’s future accession to the alliance.
However, on Feb. 12, two days before Hegseth’s talks in Warsaw, Kosiniak-Kamysz conceded during a press conference in Brussels that, as Washington opposes inviting Ukraine to join NATO, “there will be no such invitation.”
In Warsaw, Hegseth praised Poland for continuing to raise its defense spending, saying the country was “leading by example on a lot of things.”
“I do want to emphasize that it’s quite intentional that our first European bilateral is right here, in Poland. The symbolism is not lost. In fact, it is intentional,” Hegseth said at a joint press conference with Kosiniak-Kamysz. “We see Poland as the model ally on the continent, willing to invest not just in their defense, but in our shared defense, and the defense of the continent.”
In 2025, the Polish government plans to spend a total of PLN 186.6 billion ($47.1 billion) on the country’s military. This would represent an increase of PLN 27.8 billion compared with a year earlier, according to data released by the Polish Ministry of National Defence.
“Europe must spend more to protect its territory better. The United States wants to cooperate, and the United States will do everything possible for the alliance to be stronger. But Europe also must demonstrate its contribution,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said.
The deputy prime minister also said his country is preparing “further acquisitions in the United States” for its military.
“We also want to develop the cooperation of our defense industries, we also talked about that. Investments in joint ventures, Polish-American investments to increase the capabilities for our production, especially the capacity to produce ammunition,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said.
The Polish official gave a nod to his country’s new fund of around PLN 3 billion ($758 million) to support investments by domestic and foreign players in expanding the country’s ammunition manufacturing capacities, with a particular focus on 155 mm artillery shells.
Hegseth replied that Washington is looking for additional ways to intensify the U.S. defense industry’s cooperation with Poland, and mentioned a number of major defense contracts Poland has awarded to the U.S. over the past years.
“Apaches, F-35s, HIMARS, Patriots, you name it. The more you have, the stronger we are,” he said. “The more we can cooperate with those systems, the more interoperable our capabilities are, the better.”
“We’re looking for new ways to partner. You mentioned joint ventures, strategic partnerships. We are open” to such cooperation, Hegseth said.
Following Duda’s meeting with Hegseth on the same day, the Polish president’s office released a statement in which it said local officials are looking forward to the forthcoming visit by retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, President Trump’s special envoy for the war in Ukraine.
Kellogg is expected to visit Poland to discuss “the beginning of serious talks on stopping Russian aggression against Ukraine,” Duda was quoted in the statement.
Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.
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