President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda observed the actions of the military today during the largest military exercise of the Polish Armed Forces ANAKONDA-23, organized by the Operational Command of the Armed Forces. The exercise took place at the Central Air Force Training Ground in Ustka.
“I would like the society to be calm, with full confidence that Poland is safe and everyone is trying to do their best,” said President Duda at the training ground. “We know very well that there are different situations, because the time is such that we have never dealt with before. War has never been so close to us; it creates many difficult situations and provocations. The most important thing for me is for Poland to be safe. We act very calmly and consistently, and I appeal for everyone to act calmly and without emotions. We draw conclusions from all the events that take place,” he added.
At the same time, he emphasized that he is very pleased with the ongoing modernization of the army and the purchase of modern equipment. “We are currently building the country’s air defense system. This is a work that unfortunately was not carried out for many decades. We are carrying it out calmly and decisively for eight years now,” he added.
Andrzej Duda emphasized that at the moment, Poland’s missile defense is supported by our allies. “But I want to emphasize again: we should be as self-sufficient as possible,” said the President of the Republic of Poland. “I am pleased that good cooperation between the Ministry of Defense, the General Staff, the operational command and the general command means that more and more state-of-the-art equipment is reaching the hands of our soldiers, and thanks to this, we will be so armed that no one will dare to attack us, in short: Poland will be safe.”
Approximately 13,000 Polish soldiers and several hundred from NATO countries and partner countries are taking part in ANAKONDA-23.
The main assumption of the exercise is the integration of the military capabilities of the Polish Armed Forces, allied and partner forces, and the non-military system in the international operational environment, as well as testing the level of interoperability and the ability to cooperate between the types of armed forces in response to real threats in the Baltic Sea region. ANAKONDA-23 includes, among others, countering and responding to hybrid threats.
On Saturday, as part of the main tactical element of the exercise, air forces, land forces, and naval forces carried out complex combined fire tasks. The main tactical element of ANAKONDA-23 consisted of coordinated fire support using, among others, self-propelled howitzers AHS Krab and K9 Thunder, the WR-40 Langusta missile launcher, F-16 multirole fighters, Mi-14PŁ helicopters, and tactical unmanned aerial systems Bayraktar TB2.
The training is being conducted at the Drawsko, Orzysz, Ustka, and Nowa Dęba training grounds, as well as in the non-training area. Representatives of the Armed Forces from the United States, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, France, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Turkey are participating in the exercise and coordinated exercises (DEFENDER-23, AURORA-23), which also include training outside Poland’s borders.