WARSAW — Poland's Ministry of Defense is planning to launch a much-awaited tender to acquire new submarines in the fourth quarter of 2015, according to Deputy Defense Minister Maciej Jankowski. Under the plan, three new submarines are to be delivered by 2023.
Moreover, the Polish ministry is also aiming to acquire Tomahawk cruise missiles from the US to arm the submarines, reported local daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
"Indeed, we have asked the French and the Americans on the possibility of acquiring cruise missiles for our future submarines," Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak tweeted following the report.
The long-range Tomahawk is manufactured by Raytheon. No details were available about talks with the French.
Jankowski confirmed Poland's plans to launch the submarine tender this year in an official response to a n official request for information by Artur Gorski, a member of parliament from the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) Party. The deputy minister said that the Polish government did not want to disclose the estimated value of the planned contract, as it could influence its negotiating position.
"The ORKA program … is a multiyear program, and its financing will be spread over time until 2024. Indicating an estimated worth of the program would considerably lower the negotiating position of [the ministry] in the planned acquisition procedure," Jankowski said.
Deliveries of two submarines are scheduled to be completed by 2022, and a third one will be acquired by 2023, according to the ministry's Military Modernization Plan for the years 2013-2022. document.
As part of the designed contract, a service and maintenance center for the submarines is to be set up in Poland.
Email: jadamowski@defensenews.com
Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.
