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Polish 6th Airborne Brigade Gets Special Purpose Vehicles
Polish Ministry of Defence announced that 6th Airborne Brigade has received the first batch of 15 vehicles designed for the airborne operations. The vehicles are also designed for parachute drops.
Head of the Polish Ministry of Defence, Mariusz Błaszczak, attended the handover event. What’s interesting, one of vehicles as such had been showcased during the MSPO 2019 exhibition in Kielce. According to the MoD, the vehicles will be put to use during the Defender 2020 exercise.
The Agreement concerning the vehicles for the air-mobile units was signed in December 2018 by and between the Armament Inspectorate and the consortium led by the KAFAR Bartłomiej Sztukiert business based in Zielonka, working with Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski-based HIBNERYT company, Siedlce-based Auto Podlasie company, Warsaw-based Auto Special company, Sobiesław Zasada branch. Spokesman for the Armament Inspectorate, Major Krzysztof Płatek, confirmed the fact that the vehicles are an original design offered by the consortium with Toyota Land Cruiser used as the base platform.
The Agreement concerns delivery of 55 vehicles for the air-mobile units that can be dropped with the use of a parachute along with 105 special-purpose trailers and logistics/training package - with a pricetag of 33.1 million zlotys. Should the Ordering Party exercise the right of option defined as acquisition of another 25 vehicles and 55 trailers, the value would increase by 15.7 million zlotys, gross. The deliveries are expected to come to an end by 2022.
The all-terrain vehicles for the air-mobile units and the special purpose trailers are to be used for transporting equipment within the dropzone after the drop, and as a part of infantry patrol elements. They are also destined to be utilized in a towing role with regards to artillery systems weighing more than 1 tonne. The vehicle itself can also be used as a weapons platform. It may also be used in CASEVAC role.
The vehicle can be transported as an underslung load by a helicopter, and it may also be dropped with the use of the PDS “V” 108’’ 12 ft platform from the C-130 or C295M aircraft. Considering the weight of the vehicle and of the platform, two parachutes with surface of 700 sq. meters each need to be used for the drops.