Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, the government in neighboring Poland passed a law to more than double the size of its military, and went shopping for weapons.
With President Vladimir Putin's war heading into its second year, the Polish expansion plan has become jaw-dropping in scale. It includes close to 500 HIMARS or equivalent long-range multiple launch rocket systems, just 20 of which allowed Ukraine to inflict serious damage on Moscow's military machine.
There are also more than 700 new self-propelled heavy artillery pieces planned, over six times as many as in Germany's arsenal, and three times as many advanced battle tanks as Britain and France can field, combined.
Poland's wish list is likely to end up being well beyond its means, but it's also far from unique.
Governments around the world are drawing lessons from Europe's first high-intensity war since 1945, reassessing everything from ammunition stocks to weapons systems and supply lines, according to current and former defense officials as well as open source records in ten countries and NATO. Some nations are reexamining the very defense doctrines that define what kinds of wars to prepare for.
The conflict's effects aren't limited to Ukraine's neighbors. China, India, Taiwan and the U.S. are watching closely for implications thousands of miles to the east. So much so that some U.S. officials speak of treating the European and…
