Item 1 of 2 Polish soldiers fire from a man-portable air-defence system Piorun as they take part in Polish forces with NATO soldiers hold military exercises ‘Iron Defender’ at a military range in Wierzbiny near Orzysz, Poland, September17, 2025. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo
WARSAW, Nov 6 (Reuters) – Poland will roll out a new military training programme this month as part of a broader plan to train around 400,000 people in 2026, the Defence Ministry said on Thursday.
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Dubbed by Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz as “the largest defence training in Polish history”, the programme “At Readiness” will be voluntary and open to all citizens – from schoolchildren to working adults, companies, and seniors.
The programme will offer a basic security course, survival training, medical instruction, and cyber-hygiene classes.
“In November and December alone (…) we will train about 20,000 people in individual training, but the total number…, in terms of all forms of training, is about 100,000 people,” Deputy Defence Minister Cezary Tomczyk told a conference.
The ministry plans next year to train approximately 400,000 people “individually, in groups, as part of ‘Education with the Army’, reserve training and voluntary compulsory military service”, Tomczyk added.
The chief of Poland’s General Staff, Wieslaw Kukula, said the programme had two primary goals – to strengthen the resilience of citizens and communities, and to boost the availability, readiness, and capacity of reserves.
Reporting by Barbara Erling, Pawel Florkiewicz
Editing by Gareth Jones
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