Frag Out! Magazine

to 30 TD battalions in wartime under the said circumstances. TD REVISITED A discussion on local defense forces to be employed in the country's territorial defense emerged in Poland shortly af- ter the outbreak of the War in Donbass. Importantly enough, the matter did not end with a discourse between experts and MOD representatives, but spread to and involved NGOs as well, including pro-de- fense associations. The issue of territorial defense made its way also to the political debate. The new MOD was quick to pres- ent its preliminary assumptions for the establishment of a territorial component of the Polish Armed Forces. According to the Minister of National Defence's dec- larations of November 2015, one of the main goals of the ministry was to create territorial defense forces in Poland, and to establish the first three TD brigades to op- erate on the eastern border of the country. It was said the project was to consume 300-350 million zloty.(75-95 million US dollars) In the light of the planned increase in the headcount of the Polish Armed Forces to around 150 thousand soldiers, an option to form territorial defense sub- units following the principle of "three platoons per district (PL: powiat)" was taken into consideration, with one platoon per 11 thousand citizens fit for military service on average. According to that concept, the country's territorial defense forces were to consist of stationary units formed to protect and defend facilities, regions, and ground, with the headcount of approx. 46,000 (1,024 platoons) and of mobile sub-units to support and cooper- ate with operational forces (mechanized brigade, six infantry brigades, mountain infantry brigade, coastal defense brigade), modeled after the U.S. National Guard and the British Territorial Army. This stemmed from a conviction that the potential of the existing small operational land forces was enough to control only a limited respon- sibility area. This was the argument used to support the need to establish a heavier TD component to support regular army and able to move and fight within a certain direction, in close cooperation with oper- ational forces. The cost of establishment of one tactical TD formation was to be: 20-25% of costs of formation of a heavy (armored) division, 58% of costs of form- ing of a light infantry TD brigade, and 80% of costs of forming of a heavy brigade. A special body was established to orga- nize Poland's territorial defense force. It was named the Bureau for Territorial Defense Force Establishment, and one of its initial tasks involved developing a document concerning the first stage of the process of organization and functioning of TD, with the help of the Organization and Replenishment Directorate P1 of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces and in cooperation with other departments of MOD, and representatives of the US National Guard. In April 2016, the Minister of National Defence approved officially the "Concept of formation of Territorial Defense Force (stage 1, 2016–2017)" (PL: "Koncepcja utworzenia Wojsk Obrony Terytorialnej (etap I 2016–2017)"). The said bureau started functioning, in fact, in July 2016, with the aim to transform into the Command of Territorial Defense Force in Warsaw by the end of 2017. ANALYSIS

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