| The big dilemma in Europe’s recent push to increase its defense capabilities has been how to balance purchases of military hardware with investment in the factories to make the weaponry in the first place. Take Poland. The country is NATO’s highest spender relative to the size of its economy, but the large sums of money being thrown around to rearm have done little to fix its ailing defense industry at home. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Poland has increased military spending to 4.7% of GDP from 2.4%. That money should have given its own manufacturing capacity a boost, and with it the economy. But much of the spending has instead gone to foreign contractors. The Polish industry is dominated by PGZ, a 50-company conglomerate producing a wide range of materiel. Because of a lack of skilled workers and flawed deadlines, it’s struggled to scale up despite government projects to turn it into a global player. The goal to churn out 150,000 shells annually has been pushed back by three years to 2028. Poland isn’t alone in an overreliance on imports. Greece, for example, consistently exceeded NATO’s expenditure target when richer countries didn’t, even at the peak of its sovereign debt crisis. It maintained a strong armed forces, though didn’t develop much of its own production. That said, there have been some successes. Poland ordered howitzers from one of PGZ’s companies while privately owned WB Electronics, the largest supplier of military drones, expects to sign a final deal later this year with Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace that will allow it to manufacture rockets in Poland. Buying more equipment from the US also might be no bad thing at the moment. Warsaw is hoping that business for American companies will mean the Trump administration might be more amenable to keeping close security ties.  A Polish soldier in an AERO 4x4 light air-dropped military vehicle during the Armed Forces Day military parade in Warsaw. Photographer: Damian Lemański/Bloomberg | 
