Poland is set to invest €12 billion in developing its own air defense system which, according to the Polish state-owned Polish Armaments Group (PGZ), makes the prospect of Poland realizing a breakthrough in rocket technology a reality.
The objective of the investment is the development of Poland’s own precise weapons. Subcontractors of PGZ have become foreign suppliers of missile systems.
“In case of successful finalization of all executive contracts, the Polish defense industry will gain access to technologies that will allow for the development of its own original projects in the field of short and even medium-range missiles,” said PGZ spokesperson Jacek Matuszak.
“Thus, a significant competency gap that we are currently dealing with in PGZ will be eliminated,” he added.
PGZ has been preparing for the development of the short-range missile air shield for almost a decade. The key decisions about the implementation of the Narew program were taken during the Kielce arms fair this year.
According to Poland’s Rzeczpospolita newspaper, it is the Narew air shield rather than the investment in Patriot air defense that will be of greater importance to technological advancement for the Polish arms industry.
The Narew program envisages arming the Polish military with an air defense system that will be at a level between medium-range batteries, such as Wisła (Patriot), and short-range, such as Poprad and Pilica (Grom/Piorun).
It is the Narew system that will primarily be responsible for the defense of Poland’s air space.
A first contract for the implementation of the Narew program worth €5 billion was signed in November for the manufacture of 138 launchers and 1,000 high-precision ground-to-air rockets.
