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22 January, 11:34
Military news

Poland boosts its navy to counter Russia’s growing threat in Baltic Sea

Poland is launching its most extensive naval modernisation since the Cold War, aiming to rebuild long-neglected maritime capabilities as Russia becomes more assertive in the Baltic Sea.

The government is constructing three new frigates at the northern port of Gdynia and has struck a deal to acquire three submarines from Sweden. It has also introduced new minesweepers and begun work on a specialist rescue vessel to support submarine missions. These moves are meant to address years of underfunding that left Poland with a minimal fleet, including a single ageing submarine dating back to the Soviet era and two US-made frigates from the 1970s.

Although defence spending has surged since Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine in 2022, most of that investment initially went to the army and air force, now the largest ground force in the EU. Officials say naval upgrades can no longer be postponed as security risks grow in the Baltic.

Deputy defence minister Paweł Bejda said Russia’s expanding use of hybrid tactics, such as damage to undersea cables, shows the need for Poland to take a more active role in regional maritime security.

Concerns have intensified across Nato as Russia’s Baltic fleet operates from Kaliningrad and member states report suspected sabotage of power and data links, drone incursions into alliance airspace, and suspicious activity linked to Russia’s “shadow fleet” used to bypass sanctions. Recent incidents include inspections of sanctioned vessels and multiple unexplained cable disruptions reported by Baltic countries.

The three warships are being constructed as part of a €3.5bn collaboration between PGZ, Poland’s state-owned defence company, and UK-based defence firm Babcock. Meanwhile, Saab of Sweden will supply three submarines under a separate €2.3bn deal.

Jan Grabowski, a PGZ board member whose group owns the Gdynia shipyard, said the navy had undergone a dramatic transformation, moving “from zero to hero”.

Poland is Nato’s largest military spender relative to the size of its economy, allocating the equivalent of 4.7% of GDP to defence in 2025. In recent years, the country has invested tens of billions of dollars, mainly in US and South Korean equipment, to modernise its land and air forces.