Poland puts AI to work guarding its border with Belarus

Poland’s military and Border Guard are now using an artificial intelligence system to watch the country’s border with Belarus, pulling feeds from cameras, drones and other sensors into one picture and flagging activity that needs a human’s attention.

Poland’s Operational Command said the system, called Inteligentna Granica, or Intelligent Border, is now working as part of Operation Safe Podlasie, the military mission that supports the Border Guard along the Belarusian frontier. Brig. Gen. Jarosław Chojnacki, the command’s chief of staff, was briefed during a visit to Task Group Podlasie on how the rollout is going and how the system performs in day-to-day border duty, the command said.

The system is being tested on a stretch of the eastern border several dozen kilometers long. Along with AI, the trial covers robotics and autonomous systems, the command said. It did not say which robotic or autonomous systems are involved, how many are deployed, or exactly where the test section runs.

Intelligent Border was developed by the Artificial Intelligence Implementation Center, part of Poland’s Cyberspace Defense Forces, together with the Border Guard. The software recognizes objects, assesses what they are doing and points operators to events that need attention, the cyber command said in July. The aim is to cut the hours soldiers and border officers spend staring at video feeds and to speed up the response when someone tries to cross.

Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said in July that the system would enter operational use in August.

The work is split between the two services. The Border Guard installs, maintains and oversees the cameras and observation equipment and supplies their data. The military builds and runs the analysis. The system draws on an AI platform the cyber forces have developed called AIRON TACTIC, and its results feed into the TAK and JAŚMIN systems already used by troops and officers on the border, the command told Polish outlet CyberDefence24.

Col. Piotr Turek, who heads the AI center, said earlier this year that the Polish Ministry of National Defence is automating the eastern border, citing Intelligent Border as the clearest example, CyberDefence24 reported.

Operation Safe Podlasie began on Aug. 1, 2024, replacing two earlier missions on the eastern frontier. Polish troops have supported the Border Guard on the Belarusian border since 2021, when Minsk began what Warsaw describes as hybrid attacks, including pushing migrants toward Polish territory.

The military mission is large. More than 10,000 troops took part in the operation’s third rotation, with about 5,000 supporting the Border Guard on the Belarusian border each day. On July 30, the 12th Mechanized Division took over the operation from the 18th Mechanized Division, which led the fourth rotation with four task groups along the border.