From Cannons to Missiles... Poland's 'Secret Factory' Supporting Ukraine

Repair Damaged Weapons and Return Them

Reports have emerged that a "secret factory" repairing weapons used by the Ukrainian military in the war is operating in Poland.

The US economic media outlet The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) introduced a local factory in Poland, an allied country secretly supporting the Ukrainian military. The factory is surrounded by abandoned buildings that at first glance appear to be a closed industrial complex, and its exact location is classified.

However, inside the factory, the situation is intense, with hundreds of engineers working in three shifts around the clock. The main task is to repair weapons damaged or broken during the war, and the weapons repaired at this factory are reportedly sent back to Ukraine.

According to WSJ, the workshop is about the size of a typical soccer stadium, and mechanics mainly repair artillery such as self-propelled howitzers. The repair work reportedly takes up to two months per self-propelled artillery unit.

Ukrainian artillery is attacking Russian forces with M777 towed howitzers supported by the US military. / Photo by Reuters Yonhap News

To increase efficiency, they maintain communication networks with Ukrainian military mechanics. Ukrainian technicians reportedly send repair methods for various weapons such as tanks and missiles through encrypted messages and applications (apps).

WSJ pointed out that cases like the secret factory illustrate the Ukrainian military’s challenges in weapon maintenance. At the start of the war, the Ukrainian military lacked war supplies compared to the Russian forces and fought with weapons supported by European allies such as the UK and Poland. However, the support weapons, with varying parts, maintenance methods, and specifications, are very difficult to repair compared to standard-issue weapons.

For example, Ukraine received T-72 tanks from Poland, which date back to the Soviet era, and portable anti-tank weapons such as NLAW and Javelin from the UK. These diverse weapons have been damaged and broken over nearly a year of intense fighting, making maintenance difficult.

Weapon maintenance is expected to remain a major challenge for the Ukrainian military. Recently, they have agreed to receive British Challenger 2 tanks, German Leopard 2 tanks, and American M1 Abrams tanks. As these three countries’ modern tanks converge in the Ukrainian military, the difficulty of maintenance also increases accordingly.