WARSAW, Poland — The Polish Ministry of Defence has awarded a deal for the supply of short-range anti-aircraft defense systems to a consortium led by the country's state-run defense giant PGZ.
In the years 2019 to 2022, the consortium will supply six batteries of the PSR-A Pilica systems to the Polish Armed Forces, the ministry said in a statement.
"The Pilica artillery-missile systems will be one of the important short-range defense systems, a pillar of the Polish anti-aircraft defense system," Polish Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz was quoted as saying in the statement.
The latest deal is worth close to 750 million zloty (US $180 million). The consortium consists of PGZ and three of the group's subsidiaries, artillery producer ZM Tarnow S.A., optoelectronic equipment-maker PCO S.A., and radar manufacturer PIT-Radwar S.A.
The contract is part of Poland’s plans to expand and modernize its air defense capabilities. Earlier this year at a meeting of the Polish parliament’s Defence Committee, Deputy Defence Minister Bartosz Kownacki said Warsaw aims to spend about 40 billion zloty to acquire middle-range air and anti-missile defense systems, and more than 20 billion zloty to purchase short-range air-defense systems for its military.
Based in Radom, in central Poland, PGZ was set up in November 2013 with the aim to integrate the country’s fragmented, state-owned defense industry.
Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.
