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Four pillars of Slovak-Polish cooperation

Ministry of Defence of The Slovak Republic

24.02.2025

On his visit to Poland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Robert Kaliňák met with his Polish counterpart, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz in Warsaw on Monday 24 February 2025.

Following their bilateral meeting, they signed the Letter of Intent (LOI) on Cooperation between the Slovak Republic and the Republic of Poland in the Field of Defence Industry, structured in four pillars of action. The first one is to seek stronger cooperation on manufacture of 155mm munitions, in which Slovakia offers extensive manufacturing capacities. The LOI also covers Slovakia's interest in acquiring the Polish Piorun short-range man-portable air defence systems (MANPADS). The third pillar of action is to explore the joint manufacture of an infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) to be built on the Polish-made Rosomak 8x8 platform and fitted with a Slovak-developed turret. Last but not least, Slovakia takes a close interest in the Republic of Korea (ROK)-designed K-2 Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) to be produced under a licence by Poland.

"The defence self-sufficiency of every country comes first. We must develop not only our military and defence capabilities, but also our manufacturing capabilities so that we are able to keep all Armed Forces units supplied in the event of a threat or conflict. That is why I welcome the signing of a joint memorandum to enhance cooperation in these areas. We will also be happy to share much of the knowledge in areas such as munitions and gun barrels manufacturing - in which the SVK arms industry is strong," Mr Robert Kaliňák said.

The Ministers also raised the issue of increasing defence spending. "We share the same opinion on defence spending, whereas our investments must also go into infrastructure, and I appreciate Slovakia's very good initiative to build a new military hospital, which can also help Poland, if needed," Mr Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz stressed.

"Poland is a strong leader on defence. It did not wait for the latest challenges to be addressed in the NATO summit communiques. What's more, it has very innovative ideas about how to boost defence spending, and we are very much interested in that," Defence Minister Kaliňák added.

Finally, he took the opportunity to thank the Polish side for safeguarding SVK airspace and promised that Poland can also rely on Slovakia, once the SVK Air Defence (AD) and Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) capabilities are fully operational.