Industry
70 Optoelectronic Packages for the ZSSW-30 Turret - WB Group Goes Shopping at PGZ [REPORT]
WB Group has just procured 70 optoelectronic systems at the PGZ’s PCO S.A. company, for the ZSSW-30 unmanned turrets. The turret systems in question are being built by a consortium of WB Electronics and HSW S.A. with the latter company responsible for integrating the turret modules on the Rosomak APCs.
The contract has been concluded at the brand-new manufacturing facility/office of the PCO S.A. factory. The procured systems would include the GOC-1 gunner's sight installed in the front section of the turret, and the GOD-1 commander's sight, which goes on top and rotates independently. Each of the optoelectronic systems listed here integrates a daytime camera, a thermal imaging system, and a laser rangefinder. The agreement has a value of PLN 206 million (gross). The net value is PLN 168 million. This, as Witold Słowik, President at PCO, makes the said contract very important for the company, given its significant price tag. The turrets contract is said to holistically have a value of PLN 1.7 billion.
70 optoelectronic sensor packages are to be delivered by 2026, with the first five expected to be received in 2023. Throughout the year 2024 – 16 would be delivered; 28 throughout the year 2025, and 21 throughout the year 2026. Słowik stated that the agreement is a concluding note of the effort that has been launched in 2013.
It is also just the beginning of the ZSSW-30 optoelectronic contracts since the said turret would be integrated both on the Rosomak APC, but also the Borsuk IFV - the Polish Ministry of Defence plans to procure more than 1,000 of the latter.
Słowik said that PCO expects that analogous systems would be delivered for Borsuk, which would also be an opportunity for the company to continue its expansion and development. The PCO’s representative also made a request addressed to PGZ’s board member Jakub Roszkowski, to take into account the said development, within the framework of the ongoing armour programme. “We hope that from annual sales worth PLN 200-250 million, we would go to an amount three times higher, but that requires investments on our side”, Słowik said.
Piotr Wojciechowski, President of the WB Group, stated that there is a multitude of reasons why the agreement is important. He noted that it concludes many years of extensive technological, collaborative effort, with "almost perfect" results, pointing to the instruments delivered by PCO as one of the crucial components of the success. Wojciechowski recalled the fact that PCO is also working with the WB Group in the Tytan programme, stressing the fact that WB acts as a customer, and PGZ as the product supplier in the agreement signed now. The product - the unmanned turret system elements - would then be delivered to HSW S.A. Wojciechowski however indicated that the cooperation has a bilateral profile. As he noted, this has an impact on the process of perfecting the products. He said that the cooperative effort undertaken with PCO is a prospective one, and it possibly could result in manufacturing addressing both the needs of the Polish Ministry of Defence, as well as the possible export demand.
Wojciechowski stressed that the optoelectronics procured now are not destined for the prototypes, including four vehicles that would be used in the military test programme. The procurement of turrets and optoelectronics for these are the subject of separate agreements.
For now, the agreement pertains to 70 optoelectronic packages, corresponding with the number of turrets stipulated in the first performance contract, regarding the ZSSW modules for the Rosomak APC, signed in July this year.
In the future both PCO, as well as other subcontractors within the HSW-led consortium, expect more, even more, significant orders. The framework agreement tied to the ZSSW systems alone covers 341 systems. More than 1,000 Borsuk IFVs come next. Heavy Redback IFVs for the 18th Mechanized Division may be next in line.
The ZSSW-30 turrets have been created by a consortium led by HSW S.A. They feature advanced Polish fire control systems supplied and developed with the involvement of the WB Electronics company. The FCS provides the turret with a "hunter-killer", and "killer-killer" capability. high levels of accuracy when stopped, on the move, and also in adverse weather conditions. Optoelectronic systems used by the gunner, and by the commander play a key role in these turrets.