Poland to set quicker air defence procedures, defence minister says

WARSAW, Sept 30 - Poland will deploy new rules of engagement to counter threats in its airspace from the beginning of October, Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Wednesday during a press briefing.

He said the new rules, which lift the current requirement for visual identification of an airborne threat by pilots before engaging it, are meant to speed up the decision-making process.

• This measure is in response to what the Polish government says is a growing threat of airspace violations in the context of Russia’s war with Ukraine as well as potential hybrid attack threats

• Deputy Defence Minister Cezary Tomczyk said this week that the requirement for visual verification of potential threats would be loosened to "positive verification", for instance a radar reading, entry by an object into a no-fly zone and information from the Ukrainian side

• Kosiniak-Kamysz said no new legislation was required to bring in the rules

• "In conversations with soldiers — those operating in air, missile, and anti-defence, whether in ground-based systems or as pilots — it was crucial to achieve clarity and precision of action and interpretation, for the times we find ourselves in today," Kosiniak-Kamysz said. REUTERS