Tusk’s government has adopted a tactic in which certain projects are suspended and delayed, only to be recreated after more than two years as their own achievement. The goal is to show that they themselves negotiated something. Meanwhile, the only thing they are actually doing is damaging matters related to Poland’s defence capabilities, PiS MP Piotr Kaleta, a member of the Sejm National Defence Committee, told Niezalezna.pl while commenting on the planned establishment of an Authorized Service Centre for Abrams tank engines in Dęblin.
An Authorized Service Centre for Abrams tank engines will be established at Military Aviation Works No. 1 in Dęblin, becoming only the third such facility in the world after the United States and Australia, according to an agreement signed today between WZL-1 and the American company Honeywell. The document was signed in the presence of Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz.
“If not for the decisions we are implementing today through these signatures, engine inspections and repairs would have to be carried out in the United States,” Donald Tusk said.
The prime minister was quickly challenged by former defence minister Mariusz Błaszczak. Commenting on the matter on social media, the PiS politician reminded readers that “the agreement signed between PGZ and General Dynamics was concluded during the PiS government and from the very beginning envisaged servicing AGT1500 engines in Poland, not in the United States, as the prime minister is suggesting today.”
“The problem is that the current government has wasted two and a half years. This agreement should have been concluded long ago. Instead of consistently implementing strategic defence projects, they focused on political attacks against the previous government,” the former defence minister stressed.
“We will be years behind”
Niezalezna.pl asked PiS MP Piotr Kaleta, a member of the Sejm National Defence Committee, for comment on the matter.
“Tusk’s government has adopted a tactic in which certain projects are suspended and delayed, only to be recreated after more than two years as their own achievement. The goal is to show that they themselves negotiated something. Meanwhile, the only thing they are actually doing is damaging matters related to Poland’s defence capabilities,” the MP said.
According to Kaleta, selecting the military facilities in Dęblin as the location for the Abrams tank engine service centre “is not a good geographical or logistical choice.”
“The city is located not far from the borders with Belarus and Ukraine. Such a facility should be positioned further away from a potential front line, with a location chosen, for example, in Greater Poland. That would have been the logical move. Unfortunately, this government wanted to force through the impression that the agreement was moving ahead, but in a completely different location. We were aware there would be manoeuvring around changing the site,” Kaleta said.
“We will be several years behind, because now we will have to wait for the construction of the appropriate infrastructure, and the same applies to training-related issues. We could afford this only if Poland were safe rather than under threat of aggression. Once again, it has been confirmed that this government is creating total chaos in defence matters,” he concluded.