Poland hosted a traditional large-scale parade on the occasion of the Polish Army Day, which is celebrated annually on August 15.

Radio Svoboda reported on this.

This year’s event featured 200 units of state-of-the-art equipment, including Abrams tanks, Rosomak APCs and Borsuk infantry fighting vehicles, Krab and K9 self-propelled howitzers, Himars rocket systems, and Narew air defense systems – just to name a few of the vehicles seen during the parade.

More than 2,000 soldiers marched in the parade. In addition to the Poles, 100 soldiers from the allies – the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, France, and Romania – took part.

Eighty aircraft took to the skies, including the most advanced F-35 multirole fighters of Poland’s NATO allies, the United States.

Poland does not yet have these fighters in service, but the United States has already assembled the first fifth-generation F-35A Lightning II multirole fighter for the Polish Air Force.

It is expected to be handed over to the customer by the end of the year, and Poland will receive all the ordered aircraft by 2030.

Polish Mi-24 attack helicopters and American AH-64 Apache helicopters also took part in the aviation part of the parade:

Poland does not yet have an AH-64E Apache in service, but their Ministry of Defense has already signed a contract with the US government for the supply of 96 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters, along with a logistics and training package, as well as ammunition and spare parts. This will make Poland the second largest user of these helicopters in the world after the United States. The total value of the contract for the aircraft and related services was $10 billion.

Polish armored combat vehicles, such as Rosomak armored personnel carriers and Borsuk infantry fighting vehicles, also marched in the parade:

Narew air defense systems were also shown at the parade. On September 5, 2023, at the MSPO-2023 exhibition, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak approved contracts with the Polish PGZ-Narew consortium to supply the Polish Army with the main elements of the advanced Narew air defense system.

The contract provides for the supply of 46 Narew air defense systems consisting of three iLauncher self-propelled launchers, or 138 vehicles. The systems, in turn, are to form 23 batteries of two SAMs each.

Also among the Polish allies who took part in the parade were Romanian Gepard anti-aircraft guns, whose service is rotated in Poland.

Soldiers of the joint Lithuanian–Polish–Ukrainian Brigade, headquartered in Lublin, Poland, were also involved in the parade.

They posted photos of their preparations on their page on X:

During his speech, the President of Poland emphasized that one should’ve drawn conclusions from what was happening in Ukraine, and armed ourselves even more and better.

“We draw conclusions from what is happening around our country, from the war that Russia has unleashed against Ukraine, attacking an independent, free country, killing people, destroying infrastructure, destroying the lives of our neighbors from Ukraine. We draw a simple conclusion: we must arm ourselves, protect ourselves, and build our capacity so that no one will ever dare to attack us,” Andrzej Duda emphasized.

Every year on August 15, the country celebrates the victorious moment of the Battle of Warsaw. 104 years ago, Polish soldiers with their allies, the military of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, stopped the Bolsheviks, and Poland defended its independence. This historic event was also called the Miracle on the Vistula.

On the centennial of the outstanding victory, Polish President Andrzej Duda invited his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyi to jointly celebrate the victory over Soviet Russia in August 2020.