Implications of the Polish Land Forces Modernisation

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Belarus’ alignment with Russia, Poland went on a shopping spree and returned with 1.000 K2 tanks and 672 K9 self-propelled howitzers from South Korea (Dmitruk, 2022). Earlier, Poland ordered 336 M1 Abrams tanks and requested 500 HIMARS and eight Patriot batteries in the United States (Tiles, 2022). Although most contracts have yet to be approved, the announcements signal Poland’s military ambitions of becoming the foremost land army in Europe. The numbers are reminiscent of Western Germany during the Cold War. As a frontline state, Western Germany fielded over 2.000 Leopard 2 tanks and several thousand Leopard 1 tanks. Besides the sheer numbers, the choice of suppliers is equally noteworthy. What does this paradigm shift tell us and how could it affect the European security landscape and the defence industry?

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Top100 Defence Companies and the European Industrial Base: Leonardo behind the EU wheel

Last August, the American website DefenseNews released its annual ranking featuring the top 100 defence companies for 2022. With $64,458.00 in revenues in 2021, the list is led by Lockheed Martin which, followed closely by four other American companies, ensures the top five in the United States. Raytheon Technologies has in fact earned $41,852.20 in revenues in 2021, followed by Boeing with $35,093.00. The ranking reports Northrop Grumman at the fourth position with $31,429.00 revenues, while General Dynamics is closing this block with $30,800.00 in 2021. China also proves to be a fundamental presence, covering several positions starting off the sixth place thanks to Aviation Industry Corporation ($30,155.22). The English BAE System secures the seventh position with $25,775.20. It opens the ranking for European companies, even if it is the Italian Leonardo (twelfth position) to lead the European Union market in this sector. Leonardo has performed exceptionally well in 2021, increasing its revenues by 24% since 2020 (from $13,878.35 to $11,173.33). The French Airbus has, on the contrary, slipped to the fifteenth position, registering a loss of 10% compared to the previous year.Previously, the Department of Defense (DoD) said it had allocated $1.77 million for the Open6G industrial-university cooperative. This initiative is part of the ambitious Innovate Beyond 5G program, overseen by the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.

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Charter of the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic – Diana Program

Allied foreign ministers met in Brussels on 6 -7 April 2022 and approved the Charter of the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic or DIANA.  DIANA will bring industry, start-up companies and academia together to research new dual-use technologies to solve critical defence and security challenges.  The alliance has also announced additions to the technology list DIANA will focus on what NATO has identified as priorities, including artificial intelligence, big-data processing, quantum-enabled technologies, autonomy, biotechnology, novel materials and space. (NATO website, 2022).

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These 7 Technologies that will Revolutionize the Battlefield by 2040

In this article, we will present the seven technologies under development, which are at different stages of technological maturation, but which all have the potential to profoundly transform the battlefield by 2040, to the point of creating new forms of war or confrontation hitherto unknown, or even to render obsolete certain technologies which today represent a strategic pivot of the organisation of La Défense: directed energy weapons, quantum computers, hypersonic weapons, intelligence artificial intelligence, rail guns, robotics and the controversial neutrino detectors.

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