Polish Army to Test Borsuk IFV This Year?

Chwałek was discussing Borsuk during a radio interview on the Channel 1 of Polish Radio. "Most probably we will be able to hand off the first four examples for testing, to the Polish Armed Forces (...). As of next year, we would be ready to sign contracts and launch series manufacturing of this modern vehicle - modern in European and global dimensions", Chwałek said.

The Borsuk IFV development is currently at the stage of an R&D study pursued by the National Center of Research and Development - the consortium involved is led by HSW S.A. Currently, the preliminary testing of the IFV is underway. The test programme is expected to be finalized by June this year. Following the successful completion of those tests, the programme would progress to enter the qualification test programme. After the completion of this stage, the whole project would be headed towards the series manufacturing phase.

The first four vehicles, however, may be delivered to the military as the R&D stage is underway. Talks on the annexation of the R&D study agreement and the handing off of four vehicles for testing have been going on since the last year. All of the above shall accelerate the qualification tests. The declaration made by the President at PGZ suggests that 4 new IFVs could be commissioned by the end of this year.

The Borsuk IFV fuses a new, Polish tracked platform with the ZSSW-30 turret fitted with a 30 mm Bushmaster II Mk 44/S gun, Spike-LR ATGM launcher, and 7.62 mm machine gun, all controlled by an advanced fire control system. The ZSSW turrets developed jointly by HSW and WB Electronics would be first integrated on the Rosomak APC. Currently, negotiation is underway on the delivery of the first lot for those wheeled carriers.

Borsuk, in the base variant, weighs 25 tonnes, thus the vehicle retains amphibious capabilities in line with the requirements of the Polish Armed Forces. Borsuk's design also assumes that the armor may be reinforced, at the expense of weight, and loss of the amphibious nature. The vehicle is powered by a power-pack developed at WZM Poznan, fitted with an MTU 8V199 TE20 engine (maximum power output of 530 kW/720 HP), integrated with the Allison/Caterpillar X300 automatic transmission (four forward gears, two reverse gears, hydraulic turning mechanism).

According to the schedule released during the last year’s edition of the Defence24 DAY conference, 588 Borsuk IFVs are expected to be procured by 2035, and they are to become a part of the inventory of 10 mechanized battalions, provided that the current structure of the military is retained. The Borsuk IFV is also offered to Slovakia, in the nation’s new IFV tender.