Armed Forces
Poland to Detect Missiles Hundreds of Miles Away. Agreement Concluded on Aerostats Procurement.
Agreement has been concluded at the Polish Ministry of Defence, on procurement of reconnaissance aerostats within the framework of the programme codenamed „Barbara”. These will allow the user to detect threats, including low-flying ones, at a distance of more than 300 kilometres.
The ceremony was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, US Ambassador Mark Brzezinski, Secretary of State at the Ministry of National Defence Paweł Bejda and Head of the Armament Agency, Brigadier General Artur Kuptel, PhD.
As part of the agreement with the US, Poland is acquiring 4 aerostats along with logistical and training support. The contract has a gross value of USD 960 million. As both Prime Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz and Ambassador Brzezinski stressed, solutions of this kind are not being shared by the US with any ally, which shows the high level of trust towards Poland and the strengthening relationship between Poland and the US. Submitting a procurement request to the US Authorities, regarding the Barbara aerostats was declared by the then head of the Ministry of Defence, Mariusz Blaszczak, in May 2023, during the Defence24 Day conference, and the State Department’s approval was issued in February this year.
However, the Barbara programme had been in the pipeline since at least 2017, when a technical dialogue was held on the matter. The aerostats, thanks to their airborne radar, can detect low-flying targets (such as cruise missiles) at long distances of up to several hundred kilometres (in the case of the acquired system, ‘over 300 km’), while ground-based radars are limited by the horizon, making their detection range for this type of target 50 km or less in real terms. This is why the Barbara system will be such an important enhancement of early warning capabilities. The Radiotechnical Component has already been making preparations for the establishment of several posts with aerostats since last year.
The aerostats purchased within the framework of the Barbara programme will complement the capabilities of the Polish Armed Forces which they currently have at their disposal, and will complement the capabilities of the Saab 340 AEW&C early warning aircraft. At the same time, it should be remembered that aerostats are mainly intended to provide long-range reconnaissance in peacetime and crisis, while in wartime they may be vulnerable to the enemy. Despite all that, this is a relevant complementary measure in the realm of early warning.