Poland gears for costly end to army draft

By Gabriela Baczynska

WARSAW (Reuters) - This summer, just before Russia's war with Georgia, the Polish government approved a long-planned bill aligning the NATO member with others in Europe by ending conscription.

Many young men are delighted, but in a country feeling more vulnerable as Russia flexes its military muscle, some experts worry the reform may be hastily prepared and too costly.

Coinciding with rising tensions after Warsaw decided at the height of the Georgia conflict to allow the United States to station parts of a missile shield on its soil, the reform aims to trim down the military to a professional force.

Russia has said it would respond to the shield deal, which it sees as a threat to its own national security, with more than just a diplomatic protest.

The draft law would end conscription next year and create a fully professional, better-paid military of 120,000 people by 2010, down from the mainly conscript force of 124,000 now. Where the current army includes 76,000 full-time soldiers, the slimmed-down one would comprise around 90,000.

"In the worst-case scenario the higher salaries, which are definitely required in a professional army, would come at the expense of funds for new technology and equipment that the army also needs just as much," said Janusz Walczak, an independent military expert.

Parliament is expected to endorse the plan soon, but to take effect, it must then be signed by President Lech Kaczynski, a strong supporter of a modern, professional army. He has said he would prefer the force to increase to 150,000.

The structural changes alone are estimated by analysts to cost up to 5 billion zloty (1.2 billion pounds) until 2010, excluding new equipment, apartments, training and promised higher wages.