Poland orders an urgent strategic review of drones, cheap long-range weapons and new technologies, as Kosiniak-Kamysz visits exercise Blue Eye-26

Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz has ordered the leadership of the armed forces to carry out an urgent “small strategic review” in three areas: drones and counter-drone systems, cheap long-range precision strikes, and new technologies. He made the announcement on Wednesday, October 14, at Nowy Glinnik, where he watched drone training as part of exercise Blue Eye-26, according to the Polish Ministry of National Defence.

“Yesterday I instructed the Chief of the General Staff, the Armed Forces General Commander and the Operational Commander to carry out an urgent review,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said, calling the three areas “absolutely the most important missions” today. He said that, without neglecting the conventional equipment the country is procuring, the emphasis has for several months been shifting to new technologies.

Warsaw has put defence against drones high among its priorities, as was also evident at the Warsaw Security Forum.

Blue Eye-26

According to the minister, Blue Eye-26 is the largest exercise with small drones of the FPV, micro and mini types in Poland. It is being held at a training ground near Tomaszów Mazowiecki, both in an urban environment, in the town’s former textile factory buildings, and in open and wooded terrain.

The central element of the live training was the use of unmanned aircraft in cooperation with units and manned aircraft, with particular emphasis on linking them to the new AW149 helicopters. The aim is reconnaissance, data transmission, command and action of manned and unmanned assets in a single operational environment.

The first “drone lab”

Kosiniak-Kamysz visited the 25th Air Cavalry Brigade, where the Polish Army’s first “drone laboratory” was created in the spring of 2025, on the initiative of soldiers who, he said, worked with their own resources despite the legal obstacles of the time. Today such laboratories, where soldiers and engineers modify, test and adapt drones to the needs of the battlefield, operate across the Polish Army.

The overall process has been taken over by the Unmanned Forces Inspectorate, set up within the Armed Forces General Command, which unites reconnaissance, strike and electronic warfare systems into a single weapon. About 200 pupils from military preparation classes at secondary schools also took part in the event.

The Polish government has invested in countering drones since Russian drones violated Polish airspace in September 2025.