From NTI:  The Polish Defense Ministry in the coming years is planning for annual missile defense expenditures of between close to $283 million and over $502 million, according to an article in last week’s Rzeczpospolita.

Polish head of the National Security Office Gen. Stanislaw Koziej said the antimissile outlays would begin in 2014 and were necessary as the army at present had no defense against missile strikes. "It is not a whim or a sign of megalomania. Simply put, no other military modernization efforts makes sense without an effective shield against tactical, cruise, and ballistic missiles."

Government financing for antimissile projects will come through a specific set-aside from any unallocated funds in each year’s military budget. . . .

The envisioned missile defenses would be coordinated with an evolving NATO missile shield while still maintaining Polish independence over operations.

Around 2018-2020, Poland is to begin hosting next-generation U.S. missile interceptors that are intended to have the capability to destroy intermediate-range ballistic missiles and possibly ICBMs. The interceptors will form a crucial element of NATO’s missile defense network.

From Warsaw Voice:  Poland plans to spend nearly PLN 100 billion on the modernization of the army in the coming 10 years, the daily Rzeczpospolita writes after Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak revealed some details of the planned purchases at a conference on Friday. . . .

PLN 10-14 billion could be plowed into anti-missile equipment, while PLN 2-3 billion could go towards the purchase of 83 drones.  (photo: Poland’s National Security Bureau)

Image: poland%2010%2025%2012%20Stanislaw%20Koziej.jpg