Fortress Poland: Country begins building £1.9 billion ‘East Shield’ along borders with Russia and Belarus with anti-tank fortifications, AI-powered surveillance and anti-drone systems

Poland has started building a £1.9 billion ‘Eastern Shield’ along its borders with Russia and Belarus, in a bid to protect NATO’s eastern flank as tensions rise over the war in Ukraine.

The 650-kilometer-long structure will include anti-tank fortifications, bunkers and other obstacles built to physically defend the border and control movement at a time when U.S. support for European defense is expected to decline if Donald Trump comes to power in January comes.

Trump, who won the US presidential election last week, has repeatedly said he would “end” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on his first day in office, adding that he also plans to cut aid to Kiev despite the US be a leading financial and military player. supporter. His team has also reportedly considered the idea of ​​creating a 1,300-kilometer buffer zone along the front line, which would be deployed by EU and British forces.

Anti-drone systems and state-of-the-art surveillance technologies, powered by artificial intelligence to aid early detection of threats, will also protect Poland from threats arising from modern warfare exposed by the conflict in the south.

In addition, the “shield” will also include a satellite component to provide “a new element of security in space,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said, preparing the country for “the wars of the future.”

The fortifications are designed to ward off potential threats from “the enemy,” Tusk said earlier this year, with the heavily militarized Russian exclave of Kaliningrad in the north seen as a growing threat to the West.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk shared the above image with the caption: ‘The construction of the East Shield has begun! First work on the border with Russia

Polish soldiers will begin laying a barbed wire fence along the Polish border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad in November 2022

A Polish border guard patrols the border between Poland and Belarus, 2022

Tusk speaks during a press conference last month during the military exercise ‘Shield East’ defense program at the Army training ground in Orzysz, northern Poland

According to government details, the program, perhaps the most important national security investment in Poland’s post-war history, will use modern surveillance equipment including Imagery Intelligence (IMINT), Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) and acoustic monitoring to monitor the situation. improve. conscience.

The multi-layer defense line is expected to be about 200 meters deep and consists of fences, ditches and minefields.

A high border fence will provide the first barrier to any intruders, followed by barbed wire and anti-tank trenches.

Obstacles including ‘dragon’s teeth’ – concrete spiked blocks used to stop the movement of armored vehicles – will also be placed in the way.

Bunkers and underground shelters will also be hidden in forests to protect those within the border if defenses fail.

The project was announced in response to Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine and what the Polish government calls the “hybrid war” tactics of Belarus and Russia.

These include increasing migration pressure at its eastern border, with Warsaw claiming Minsk and Moscow may be colluding to divert asylum seekers west, putting pressure on Western countries and fueling divisive rhetoric.

‘The border cannot be crossed with impunity… It is Russia and Belarus who are behind this procedure, and the whole world calls it a hybrid war. We will not back down,” Tusk said in July.

“We do this to deter the enemy, so that anyone who wishes harm on Poland, anyone who plans an attack, an aggression against our allies or against our country, hears here today from the Main Market Square in Krakow: stay away from Poland!” Tusk said this at an event to mark the launch of the initiative in May.

He added: “Poland is strong, Poland will be safe thanks to its own actions and thanks to its own allies.”

According to a recent Defense Alliance report, Poland has the highest military expenditure per GDP of all NATO member states. The ambitious project should be completed by 2028.

The Minsk large landing ship takes part in an amphibious landing exercise held by naval infantry units of the Russian Baltic and Northern Fleets, off the coast of Kaliningrad in the Baltic Sea

The fortifications are designed to ward off potential threats from ‘the enemy’, Donald Tusk (pictured at the border in 2024) said earlier this year

Border guards on quad bikes patrol the border wall on the Polish-Belarusian border near the village of Tolcze in northeastern Poland on June 8, 2022

Meanwhile, another project, due to start in 2025, is being planned by NATO members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which announced a ‘Baltic Defense Line’ in January.

The countries’ shared concerns about the threat posed by Russia will lead to its integration into Poland’s eastern defense efforts.

They are seeking EU funding to build a network of bunkers, barriers, distribution lines and military warehouses along their borders with Russia and Belarus, Estonian officials said in September.

“The need for a (Baltic) defense line arises from the security situation and supports NATO’s new forward defense concept,” Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said in a statement.

“At the same time, it strengthens the security of the European Union and the military defense of its borders, and therefore we clearly see that the EU could also support the project financially,” he continued.

Defense ministers of the four countries said threats on the Baltic-Polish border are increasing and that ramping up fortifications “remains a high priority, contributing to our commitment to defend every inch of (NATO) territory .’

“The Russian war against Ukraine has shown that creating physical obstacles in open terrain without natural defensive cover is crucial, even in technologically advanced warfare,” they said in a joint statement.

Polish soldiers operate armored tanks during the military exercise ‘Shield East’ defense program at the Army training ground in Orzysz, northern Poland, October 14

A border guard patrols the Polowce-Pieszczatka border crossing in 2024

Lithuania recently blocked and strengthened a bridge over the Nieman River, connecting it to Russia’s Kaliningrad. Officials said they planned to strengthen and even mine other bridges connecting their country to the exclave.

The small but heavily armed area lies between the Baltic Sea, Poland and Lithuania and houses the headquarters of the Russian Baltic Fleet.

“Kaliningrad is essentially a Russian arms depot, and it has a lot of military operational equipment in use, not just in storage,” Elisabeth Braw, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told the Kyiv Independent earlier this year.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine escalated fears that the region’s neighbors could be the first to be targeted in the event of a war between Moscow and NATO.

Poland’s foreign minister claimed in June that Russia could store up to 100 nuclear warheads in the area.