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Poland has air defence capabilities to protect its cities, defence ministry says

19.08.2026 12:00
Poland's armed forces have various air and missile defence capabilities that can be used to protect urban areas, the country's defence ministry said on Wednesday, rejecting claims that Polish cities lack protection against aerial threats.
Image:
Image:Polish Ministry of Defence

The ministry said air defence does not involve permanently stationing missile batteries around major cities, but rather deploying and using different elements of the system "according to the situation, threat assessment and national defence priorities."

The statement came in response to comments about the alleged lack of protection of Polish cities against aerial threats, state news agency PAP reported.

Former Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak, a lawmaker with the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, said on Tuesday that he was surprised by recent comments from Brig. Gen. Michał Marciniak, deputy head of the Armament Agency and the man in charge of the Polish military's Integrated Air and Missile Defence Programme.

Asked on Saturday by broadcaster Polsat News whether Polish cities were covered by missile defence, Marciniak said large cities were not protected because missile systems had not been deployed around them.

Marciniak added that cities would "probably be protected" if Poland entered a state of war. He said there was a list of priorities and that the government had to decide what was most important.

Błaszczak said that when his PiS party was in power, Poland had launched "missile defence of Warsaw—for the first time in many years."

He called on the defence ministry's political leadership to answer what he described as a fundamental question: "What about missile protection of the capital?"

The defence ministry said Poland's armed forces had "various types of capabilities to provide air and missile defense for designated facilities, including urban conurbations."

Such operations are particularly intensive in eastern and central Poland, the ministry said, adding that they involve the cooperation of several air defence systems and allied forces.

"Poland's air defence does not consist of permanently deploying missile batteries around every major city," the ministry said. "It is an integrated system whose elements are deployed and used according to the situation, threat assessment and national defence priorities."

The ministry said the protection could cover major administrative and economic centres, critical infrastructure and military formations.

The capabilities include Poland's Wisła (Vistula) air defence programme, based on the US-made Patriot system, as well as other elements of the country's developing multilayered air defence network.

Depending on the nature and level of a threat, the armed forces can increase their readiness and activate and move appropriate air and missile defence assets to protect designated facilities and areas, the ministry said.

It added that detailed information about the deployment, readiness levels and plans for using individual air defence elements was classified and was not made public.

Błaszczak criticised the ministry's statement, calling it "in practice an admission that the missile defence of Warsaw, which we introduced under the Law and Justice government, has been withdrawn."

In a post on X, Błaszczak wrote: "We are not asking whether Poland 'has various types of capabilities. Of course it does, because we built them. The question is simple: Are air and missile defence systems currently deployed around Warsaw?"

(gs)

Source: IAR/PAP, gov.pl