Finally! The Borsuk IFV Execution Contract Signed

On Thursday, March 27, after 11:00, the first execution contract for the Borsuk Infantry Fighting Vehicles was signed at the Military Center for Civic Education in Warsaw for an amount of 6.5 billion PLN (1,55 EUR million). Colonel Piotr Paluch, Deputy Head of the Armaments Agency, signed on behalf of the State Treasury. Representing the manufacturer, Huta Stalowa Wola, were President Wojciech Kędziera and Krzysztof Trofiniak, President of the PGZ Group. In attendance at the ceremony were: Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of National Defece Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Minister of State Assets Jakub Jaworowski, Minister of the Interior and Administration Tomasz Siemoniak, as well as State Secretaries at the Ministry of National Defence Paweł Bejda and Cezary Tomczyk.

The subject of the contract is the supply of 111 units of the BWP Borsuk to the Polish Armed Forces. This number will allow for the partial re-equipment of two mechanized battalions with 58 vehicles each, in accordance with the current structures of the Armoured and Mechanized Forces. Deliveries will take place in the years 2025-2029. The vehicles will be delivered in the basic variant of the infantry fighting vehicle, with a three-person crew and a troop compartment that can accommodate six soldiers. They will be equipped with the unmanned turret system ZSSW-30, developed by the HSW and WB Group consortium. This variant of the armament module is already used in the latest variant of the Rosomak IFV. The Borsuks will also be capable of overcoming water obstacles in an amphibious setting.

Defence24.pl reported last week about the likely date of the contract signing. The long wait was due to protracted negotiations between the Armaments Agency and the PGZ Group (Polish Armaments Group). The sticking point turned out to be the price of the vehicle, which now is nearing 14 million EUR a piece (including VAT). A significant factor in the costs is that the Borsuk is a new, proprietary design that is only now going into serial production. HSW is carrying out intensive modernization work and expanding its parent plant in Stalowa Wola, among other reasons, to produce the Borsuks on a large scale. For this purpose, HSW also voluntarily undertook the production of a dozen pre-series Low Rate Initial Production Borsuks even before the contract was signed. HSW and its subsidiaries (including Jelcz Sp. z o.o. and the Autosan branch in Sanok) are conducting numerous investments with a total value of nearly 1.4 billion PLN.  

Let us recall that the framework agreement, which defined the terms and conditions for concluding execution contracts, was signed on February 28, 2023, at the HSW headquarters in Stalowa Wola in the presence of the former Minister of National Defense, Mariusz Błaszczak. The total demand defined by the Ministry of National Defense for the Borsuks and other vehicles based on it amounts to 1,400 units. Of this number, over 1,000 are infantry fighting vehicles, and just under 400 are specialized vehicles based on the same chassis, called UMPG (Universal Modular Tracked Platform). It is worth adding that HSW continues its research and development work on the heavy infantry fighting vehicle (CBWP) using its own funds, which will incorporate many components from the Borsuk. The Polish Armed Forces« need for vehicles of this class, sometimes referred to as „heavy Borsuks,” is estimated at around 700 units, though at this stage both development of Borsuk into CBWP and a cooperation with an international partner is taken into account.