This lack of manufacturing capacity has become a critical problem for the Polish government. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Poland has increased defence spending from 2.4% of gross domestic product to 4.7% in 2025, more than doubling it in real terms.
Earlier this year, Poland's minister of national defence Wadysaw Kosiniak-Kamysz spoke with his Swedish counterpart Pal Jonson, and the conversation turned to procurement. The Swedes were aware that they sold a lot to Poland, from ships to planes to anti-tank missiles, Kosiniak-Kamysz recalled. They wanted to know what they could buy in return.
"Our flagship product that could be sold is Piorun," Kosiniak-Kamysz said, referring to a portable anti-aircraft missile launcher, manufactured by Mesko, a subsidiary of the state-owned defence conglomerate Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa, or PGZ. But Poland simply doesn't make enough; the single production line making the weapons is at full capacity. "There is a waiting list for this from many places in Europe," the minister told Bloomberg.
