General Ireneusz Nowak, Poland’s Operational Commander of the Armed Forces, was speaking at the Warsaw Security Forum on Monday.
Asked whether Poland expected delays in US arms contracts because of Washington’s involvement elsewhere in the world, he said Poland, like the Baltic states, now appeared likely to be affected.
The delays to PAC-3 MSE missiles for the Patriot air defence system were "very visible," he said.
He added that he was not certain HIMARS contracts would be met on time, and that further delays to orders already agreed were likely.
Patriot plays a key role in Poland’s emerging air defence system, known as Wisła.
The country is due to receive eight batteries, with 64 launchers in total.
The first two reached full operational readiness last December, and the remaining six are expected between 2027 and 2029.
The PAC-3 MSE is the most advanced missile for the system.
It is made by the US firm Lockheed Martin at a rate of several hundred a year, and the company has pledged to raise output to about 2,000 in 2030.
Gen. Nowak also said Poland is currently using "expensive equipment" to shoot down "cheap drones" because it has no alternative.
The country needs a full range of defences, he said, from low-cost anti-drone systems to very expensive top-tier platforms.
He said the industry was quoting delivery times that were too long, and that peacetime military procurement rules were "hurting us."
"We do not live in a world of peace," he said, describing the present as a transitional phase in "a murky area" where the threshold for NATO’s Article 5 was blurred.
Procedures for buying, certifying and bringing weapons systems to combat readiness had to be made faster and simpler, he told the conference, while remaining effective.
The Patriot programme is one of the costliest in Poland’s military modernisation.
Its second phase, covering six batteries, 12 radars and missiles, was priced at USD 9.3 billion.
In June, Poland also ordered several hundred PAC-2 GEM-T missiles worth USD 988 million (net) to supplement its PAC-3 MSE stocks, with deliveries running until 2031.
The country has also been expanding its HIMARS fleet.
Delivery of the first 20 launchers was completed in autumn 2024.
In 2022, Warsaw asked Washington to sell it 486 more HIMARS systems, and an agreement was approved in 2023.
(ał)
Source: PAP