Asked about the plan, Kosiniak-Kamysz told a press conference the project was already under way, pointing to a "dedicated drone force" established in January last year.
Operating under the General Command of Poland's Armed Forces, the drone systems inspectorate oversees unmanned technology across air, land and sea, as well as counter-drone defence capabilities.
Drone training for soldiers was being rolled out across all branches of the armed forces, alongside programmes in military-profile school classes and testing facilities, Kosiniak-Kamysz said.
The defence minister said that Ukraine had no equal when it came to manufacturing unmanned systems and scaling up production.
Poland needed a "drone swarm" capable of providing cover for Apache helicopters and carrying out reconnaissance, he added.
Kosiniak-Kamysz said funding had been scaled up from tens of millions to billions of zlotys, covering both unmanned systems and counter-drone capabilities, with a significant share of EU SAFE loan funds earmarked for the SAN programme.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko formally announced the plan at the Road to URC conference, saying it would combine Polish and EU funding with Ukrainian expertise gained over more than four years of repelling Russian aggression.
A separate agreement signed at the event established the Subcarpathian Competence Centre – Poland's first facility for testing and deploying beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) drone services, integrating academia, local government and industry.
(ał)
Source: PAP