New Drone Agreement: Domestic Manufacturing Expected

During the meeting, agreements were signed with the Military Research Institutes. The contracts were concluded between the Secretary of State at the Ministry of National Defence, Mr. Cezary Tomczyk, and: Colonel Dr. Eng. Paweł Sweklej, Director of the Military Institute of Armament Technology; Colonel Dr. Eng. Michał Ceremuga, Director of the Military Institute of Armored and Automotive Technology; Dr. Hab. Eng. Marcin Szczepaniak, Director of the Military Institute of Engineering Technology; Dr. Eng. Bogusław Kot, Director of the Military Institute of Chemistry and Radiometry; and Dr. Hab. Eng. Mirosław Kowalski, Director of the Air Force Institute of Technology.

The signed contracts concern the improvement of tactics, techniques, and procedures for the use of Unmanned Weapon Systems. The scope of work will include, among other things, design, production, testing, research, and operation of drones, as well as provision of technical and substantive support. “Drone laboratories” will be delivered to the Polish Armed Forces, enabling the production of unmanned combat systems and their continuous modification and enhancement. The Polish Armed Forces are to be equipped with unmanned weapon systems; however, various stages of the program must first be completed—starting with the training of soldiers so that these unmanned systems can be operated at the squad, company, battalion, and brigade levels.

Legislative changes must also be introduced so that such systems can be purchased already during their military testing phase. As a result, after testing and identifying urgent innovative needs, the military will be able to procure systems deemed appropriate and necessary, meeting all requirements. Another change will allow the purchase of the smallest types of drones already at the level of individual military units. The Unmanned Systems Center at ITWL will serve as a meeting point for the military institutes, the Polish Army, industry partners, and specialized units such as the Cyber Defence Forces Command, so that systems meeting requirements can be supplied to the military in a short time.

The Cyber Defence Forces Command will be responsible for developing software for unmanned systems, including artificial intelligence algorithms. Meanwhile, drone laboratories will be delivered both to operational military units and to Territorial Defence units, to disperse these production capabilities. The Unmanned Systems Center is also to be integrated into the “innovation ranges” network, since one of its goals is to shorten the time needed to conduct research and rapidly deploy equipment.

This year, approximately PLN 200 million will be spent on purchasing training drones so that unmanned weapon systems can already be introduced at the squad level. The first pieces of equipment are scheduled to be delivered to the military in September.