Industry
Polish MoD's Armament Agency Announces Critical Offset Deal for the Wisła Programme
Deputy Minister of Defence Paweł Bejda signed an offset agreement with Northrop Grumman, regarding the implementation of the Phase II of the Wisła air/missile defence programme. The total commitment value is listed as PLN 300 million.
The agreement includes the following commitments that Northrop Grumman expressed towards Poland:
- Integration of the Sajna and Bystra radars with the IBCS IAMD command system;
- Transfer of manufacturing capacity regarding new munition types for the Mk44/S Bushmaster II automatic cannons used in Rosomak APC and Borsuk IFV, M256 tank guns of the M1 Abrams MBTs, and light M320 chain guns of the AH-64 Apache helicopters;
- Acquisition of a capacity to train the technical crews for command and control systems of the Narew and Wisła IAMD systems.
The following entities would be the beneficiaries of the offset deals:
- MESKO S.A.;
- OBR CTM S.A.;
- Wojskowe Zakłady Uzbrojenia S.A.;
- Military University of Technology;
- Military Institute of Armament Technology;
- WZŁ No. 1 S.A.
The official releases stress the significance of the offset deals when it comes to deeper involvement of the Polish defence industry, defence academia, and the Armed Forces in the manufacturing, maintenance, servicing, training, and operation of the Narew and Wisła systems. Transfer of competency for the Polish entities, when it comes to manufacturing of modern munitions of numerous types remains equally relevant. As a result of these efforts, Poland would gain greater independence in this key area, along with guaranteed availability of modern munitions for the newly commissioned equipment types.