Industry for defense: The Ministry of National Defense announces a strategic partnership with Polish entrepreneurs

The first edition of the event organized by the PTWP Group and the WNP.pl editorial team brought important words on topics related to building Poland’s resilience and defense potential. The conclusions from the discussion will be included in the report being prepared: “Defense Industry in Poland – time to accelerate.”

The event began with the reading of a letter from the Deputy Prime Minister and the head of the Ministry of National Defense. Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, among others expressed his belief that “the country’s resilience is determined by its own production capabilities, technologies and competences, and the Polish defense industry has the potential to become the engine of innovation and economic growth, and at the same time the foundation of our defense.”

Record spending is planned for defense in 2026, some of which will be implemented through the Security and Defense Fund. In total, they will exceed PLN 200 billion, and in accordance with the adopted assumptions, 50 percent. orders will be awarded to Polish companies. Mieczysław Bieniek, deputy strategic commander of NATO in 2010-2013, emphasized that – History will not forgive us if we spend this money badly.

The issue of including private companies in the modernization of the Polish army and strengthening our defense potential is of great importance for the success of intentions related to the modernization of the army. And modern industry in Silesia is open to cooperation – said Wojciech Kuśpik, president of the PTWP Group.

Modernization of the armed forces as an impulse for the Polish economy. How to take advantage of this opportunity?

Army modernization covers 15-year cycles. Edward Gruszka, retired Lieutenant General, advisor in the Ministry of National Defense office, explained that the plan for 2020-2035 is currently being implemented. At the same time, the Ministry of National Defense and the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces are working on an updated plan for 2025-2039.

The plan is classified and developed on the basis of strategic documents, such as the National Security Strategy and the Political and Strategic Defense Directive. It is politicians who indicate the military’s goals, role and allied environment. On this basis, the military develops a plan on how we should prepare for war. Today, the priority is to fill the gaps in capabilities that resulted from the transfer of equipment to Ukraine. In parallel with deliveries, new divisions, brigades and inspectorates are created.

When asked about the Polish Armaments Group’s preparations for plans to strengthen the potential of the Polish army, the Group’s president of the management board, Adam Leszkiewicz, noted that for years the domestic industry had envied Western economies in which the space and military industries in the past and today play an innovative role and inspire the drive of the entire economy.

– We are entering this area a bit today. And we see the impact this can have on the economic life not only of the entire Polish economy, the entire industry, not only in the “defense” sector, but also in local Poland, in smaller towns where the plants are located. We see life coming back there, and the defense industry is starting to become the driving force of the Polish economy, said Adam Leszkiewicz.

He emphasized that the symbols of the Polish defense industry are Borsuk, Krab and drones manufactured by PGZ or WB, and all these products contain many complex physical and software components.

– PGZ wants to be a leader and integrator, i.e. combine our competences with those of the private sector. As in the case of Borsuk, which combines solutions produced at Huta Stalowa Wola with solutions created by Ponar Wadowice or Grupa WB – declared Adam Leszkiewicz, who also added that the integration of companies of the PGZ capital group consisting of 69 entities is planned by mid-2026.

This is necessary for it to be able to meet the challenges related to the absorption of financial resources, for example from the SAFE program (Poland has been allocated approximately EUR 44 billion).

Only then will we be able to develop what is most expected of us, which is to establish or increase production capacity – he reserved.

Marek Warzecha, president of the management board of Ponar Wadowice, also assessed the current situation as favorable for the state and private sectors.

An opportunity opens up for enterprises operating in the defense sector. However, in this context, attention should be paid to the need to end the extremely ideological discussion on the energy transformation. Europe will go bankrupt if it continues on this path – said Marek Warzecha.

In the opinion of the president of Ponar Wadowice, Polish companies have know-how, also unique on a global scale, allowing them to compete with the largest players. To confirm this, he pointed out that Ponar is one of the four global producers of advanced hydropneumatic suspension for heavy military vehicles. In his opinion, this is a sign of good export prospects, and the importance of this aspect was also emphasized by other participants in the debate.

– We build potential together with our partners, because each of our companies can do a lot, but by acting together we can make the Polish industry and Polish defense products a showcase and sell. One of such products is Piorun, which is very popular. It is worth strengthening the production capacity of this equipment, said Adam Leszkiewicz, president of the management board of Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa.

Marcin Kubica, managing director of WB Electronics, noted that the WB group’s strategy for years has been to generate at least half of its revenues from exports. He emphasized that diversification also translates into business stability, favoring the development of its offer. Ukraine remains an important market for the company, and the experience from there is automatically transferred to the solutions offered to the Polish armed forces.

Unmanned systems produced by the WB Group are effectively used by the Ukrainian army, despite the operation of Russian electronic warfare troops, which proves the resistance of Polish weapons to interference. He emphasized that the company’s innovativeness is also proven by the fact that even Americans produce systems from the Polish group under license.

Partnership with PGZ, the dialogue we have established on many levels, I am convinced that it will serve what is most important, i.e. Poland’s security– added Marcin Kubica.

Also in the opinion of Cezary Dominiak, president of the management board and CEO of Rosomak, the private and public sectors are ready for cooperation, which also applies to SMEs, which, however, are in a slightly different situation due to the need to meet licensing requirements. In his opinion, an additional benefit for the entire sector would be a change in thinking.

If we give ourselves the right to make mistakes, we will gain a powerful impulse to implement innovative projects – he said.

During the discussion, MP Andrzej Grzyb, chairman of the Parliamentary National Defense Committee, drew attention to the role of army representatives, whose opinion is crucial in the context of decisions on how to spend the funds reserved for this purpose.

– There is an ongoing discussion regarding the logic of ordering equipment for the Polish Army. Our approach to this issue is that the decision in this area should rest with the army. At the same time, we should take care of the context of benefits for domestic business that may be brought in the long run by the investments we are deciding on today, said Andrzej Grzyb during the inaugural session.

Gen. Mieczysław Bieniek, commenting on the role of cooperation between private entities and state-owned companies, pointed to the example of Huta Częstochowa, taken over by the State Treasury, which could become a manufacturer of armor plates.

The technology of steel production for such needs is difficult, but there are private entities that can provide such a project with their know-how – said General Bieniek.

Infrastructure ready

Alan Beroud, president of the management board of PKP, talked about preparations for crisis situations during the Infrastructure, investments, safety panel. The Group he manages is constantly preparing for threats resulting from the current geopolitical situation, cooperating in this field with Ukrainian railways and using their experience.

The group allocates large resources, among others: for training and defense. A certain limitation for the company is the fact that it remains a commercial entity, which creates the need to develop legislative solutions that would allow it to carry out tasks in this area that involve higher costs.

You need to think about the financing model and appropriate cost management. If we buy heavy diesel locomotives to transport tanks or heavy military equipment, we must be aware that their operation costs more than in the case of locomotives operating container platforms. – said Alan Beroud.

Andrzej Kaczmarek, president of the management board of Stalexport Autostrada Małopolska, drew attention to the aspect of changing the work and organization of the A4 motorway manager.

– Highway patrols, whose task was to check for any defects in infrastructure elements, received new instructions – they look at situations related to, for example, someone hanging a camera on a viaduct. We try to protect ourselves from this type of situations, and we face dozens of cyberattacks every day. We also conduct a continuous exchange of information with state institutions and services, which was not the case before. Poland needs distributed infrastructure, which cannot be done solely by the state – added President Kaczmarek.

During a session devoted to the issue of technology transfer to the Polish defense industry, Krzysztof Krystowski, General Director of Northrop Grumman Polska, pointed out that so far our country has been exceptionally helpless in enforcing the relevant provisions of contracts, which foreign manufacturers take advantage of.

Krzysztof Krystowski emphasized that one should not be afraid to demand production in the country, because such obligations are not surprising for large foreign corporations. This is exactly how it works in the case of purchases made by France, Australia, Taiwan, Great Britain, Italy or Germany.

The director of Northrop Grumman Polska also referred to the dispute dividing Poland over the canceled order for the French Caracal. He stated that no other country, having two helicopter factories in its territory, would choose the offer of a manufacturer that does not have its plants in a given country.

The Industry for Defense conference gathered experts from dozens of companies and institutions – defense industry leaders from state and private enterprises, representatives of science and administration. The experts invited to participate in the discussion unanimously pointed out the need for dialogue between the army, defense industry, administration and science.

– The multi-aspect nature and dynamics of the discussions we witnessed prove that there is a great need to provide a platform for the exchange of views of key market participants with a view to their more effective operation and, as a result, increasing our security. We are glad that the meeting at the International Congress Center in Katowice brought specific conclusions, which we will present in detail in the report on the defense sector, which will soon be made publicly available – says Aleksandra Helbin, editor-in-chief of the WNP.pl portal.

Autumn events devoted to industry, organized by the PTWP Group, included, in addition to the Industry for Defense conference and the New Industry Forum, the International Fair of Machine Tools, Tools and Processing Technologies TOOLEX and the International Welding Fair ExpoWELDING.

The series “The Industry of Tomorrow. The Industry of Tomorrow” was organized on October 14-16, 2025 at the International Congress Center in Katowice.

One thousand participants registered participation in Industry for Defense, including eight hundred on-site.