In border protection

I am reasoning about 1 Podlasie BOT, 4 Warmian-Masurian BOT, 19 Nadbużańska BOT and 20 Przemysian BOT. They're about to change their names, and we're going to talk about the border defender brigades. Their subordinate units will be located along the northern and east border of the state. We want the military to cover the full border densely, so even individual companies will be deployed in separate locations. Soldiers of the Borderland defence Component will be stationed in Suwałki, Hajnówka, Giżyck, Braniewa, Wola Uhruska, Turzyna, Biała Podlaska, Jarosław, Sanoku, Przemyśl. Subdivisions will besides be located in Dąbrowa-Moczydły, Morąg, Elk and Olsztyn.

Gen. Dyw. Krzysztof Stańczyk, Commander of Territorial Defence Forces.

Why do we even request the Border defence Component? Is there not adequate of the current strategy in which the military supports the Border Guard?

The creation of the COP is closely related to the national deterrence and defence programme for the Tartar East. The units included in the COP are to presume work for the protection of elements of military infrastructure, i.e. stored in the border belt of equipment or military warehouses. The second, equally important, is to relieve the burden of operating units. respective or respective 1000 soldiers have been deployed along the borders of our country for respective years. As the Polish Army, we support the Border defender in protecting the integrity of borders and counteract illegal migration, but we must remember that this task is not the main mission of our army. Therefore, the Minister of National Defence decided that in time it was the territorialists from the COP who would take over these tasks and thus loosen the operating units.

In both cases, this will not happen immediately. The condition is to accomplish first combat readiness, and this involves completing the units, expanding the level of professionalism and equipping them with appropriate weapons. In simple terms, we want to reverse the proportions: today, WOT is simply a support for operating units, and in the future – erstwhile the COP is ready – the operating units will support us in protecting the border. I besides hope that the situation along the Polish-Belarusian border will improve, which will reduce our commitment to its protection in general.

You're an optimist. late operating commander RSZ General weapon Maciej Klish spoke in an interview in the ‘Army Poland’, that illegal transition attempts are more than a year earlier.

Maybe it's truly wishful thinking. Although I must admit that in the south of Poland, where the task is carried out by the Nadbużan Border defender Division, it has been very peaceful for respective weeks. The site is full monitored by an electronic barrier mounted along the Bug, effectively deterring illegal migrants. There were about 1.9 1000 camera poles, nearly 5,000 day-night and thermal cameras and peculiar sensors for detecting various physical features of objects.

Let's get back to the concept of the Border defence Component. You're talking about loosening the operational troops as they scope combat readiness. erstwhile will that be?

In 2026 we will begin to make fresh structures so that in 2028 the brigades will scope their first readiness and begin to presume work for military installations under the Tarcza East programme. The full combat readiness of the COP will scope 2032. I presume that about 16,000 territorialities are then utilized in its structures. Of course, the pace of change will depend on many factors, including supplies of equipment and weapons. Granted, the money for the weaponization of the KOP units is, due to the fact that it was provided for in the plan of modernization of the method Armed Forces of Poland, but everything takes time.

To velocity things up, I decided present to decision equipment from OT units located on the western wall of Poland to the east. This does not mean, however, that Western territorials will stay empty-handed. That's not gonna happen due to the fact that soldiers have the equipment they request to train. However, due to the fact that 1 PBOT, 4 W-MBOT, 19 NBOT and 20 PBOT were qualified by the Head of the General Staff of the HR as part of a combat preparedness and mobilisation programme for the Tier I sub-divisions [highest level of readiness, units capable of responding immediately in the event of a threat], we must guarantee that these units are adequately equipped. We will besides rise the level of professionalism in the sub-chapters of the COP. From the so-far-held WOT 9% of professional soldiers we will jump to about 19%. This is essential due to the fact that in the defence brigades of the border we will have peculiar sub-divisions, e.g. artillery batteries or image designation groups.

What kind of equipment and weapons are you talking about?

The soldiers will, of course, have smooth-bore weapons, Grot carbines and optoelectronics, but besides Warmate systems, FlyEye Unmanned, FPV drones and Thunder or Lightning rocket kits, Javelin anti-tank and The grenade launchers Carl Gustav. We are besides going to buy self-propelled mortars and cannonhaubics. In the future, we will besides be supported by unmanned land troops as part of ‘Orlik’ programme. That's not all. We're going to buy alleged smart shooters, that is, sights that will make it easier to fight drones. By the end of 2025 we plan to acquisition 200 copies, and in full our soldiers will receive about 5,000 pieces of these devices.

Will the COP soldiers who will support the Border defender in countering illegal migration gain any fresh competences and powers?

Nope. Soldiers are to support the SG as they have so far, and will not fall into the competence of borderers. The training of territorialists, who will be part of the COP sub-divisions, will change. We must adapt these units to fresh tasks and challenges.

So what will change?

Territorials from the KOP brigade, like their colleagues from another WOT units, will learn a average soldier's craft, i.e. rules, drills, tactics, field medicine and will undergo shooting training. Therefore, basic training, 16 days, will not change. Differences will happen at the phase of individual, rapper and specialist training. KOP units are to interact with the Border Guard, so for example, they will train with patrolling and notification, improve reconnaissance techniques and practice interaction within the QRF. All to make the cooperation of the services along the border as effective as possible.

During training, we will teach you to respond to threats to cognitive war, hybrid action and misinformation. We besides plan to invest in developing language skills. KOP soldiers will learn Russian! Currently, this language at the basic level [according to the Natov standard STANAG1] will be met by soldiers from brigades located in the east of Poland. Next year there will be a second-level course [according to the NATO standard STANAG 2]. It will include soldiers of professional and territorial military service.

When will the units start training according to the fresh program?

We're working on the details now. We talk about changes in the curriculum with the Academy of Land Forces, where it is conducted Agricolla programme, Military method Academy and WOT Training Centre and Substrate school Sonda. We presume that the changes will be introduced by mid next year. From mid-2026, I plan for the first units to start a fresh training cycle under the pilot programme.

I realize that the creation of the COP in the face of an expanding hybrid threat is simply a priority.

This is another crucial task for the territorial defence troops. delight note that on behalf of the Minister of National Defence I am the Chief MON Emergency Management Centre, so in the event of various situations of crisis, specified as fresh floods, the territorialists will besides act and aid the victims, as was the case at the time Operation Fenix. OT troops are besides a pillar General training programme "inReadiness", which since 22 November is held all weekend throughout Poland.

And that's not all. defence Minister has announced the launch Horizon operations, in which up to 10,000 soldiers of various types of armed forces, namely WOT, will operate. Together with police officers and Railway Guard, soldiers defender railway lines, among others, to prevent diversion acts.

This is simply a reaction to incidents that occurred in mid-November erstwhile Russian-related perpetrators damaged the tracks on the Warsaw–Lublin railway route. My soldiers, mostly with 2 LBOT, moved very rapidly with aid and, in fact, even before the authoritative announcement of Operation Horizon, patrolled railway tractions and places that are most susceptible to diversion and sabotage actions, namely embankments, bridges, viaducts, tunnels, culverts, as well as the most crucial nodes and railway sections.

Everything we are talking about: the creation of the COP, universal training, crisis activity, countering diversion actions, has 1 common denominator: building resilience and defending the country. According to our maxim, we are always ready and always close.

Gen. Dyw. Dr. Krzysztof Stańczyk is simply a commander of territorial defence troops. It has been associated with the formation since the beginning of its existence, i.e. since 2017. He initially served at the WOT Command as head of the Army Types Branch, then commanded 8 Kujawsko-Pomorska BOT and was a deputy commander of this kind of armed force. It has been at the head of the territories since May 2024.