Polish Army Changes The Narew SHORAD System Requirements. “Polish Industry to Act as the Main Contractor”

According to the information we have received from Małgorzata Ossolinska, working at the Armament Inspectorate, redefinition of the requirements regarding the Narew SHORAD system took place back in 2015. This prolonged the analytical-conceptual part of the technological dialogue by 6 months.

The redefinition issue, pertaining the operational requirements of the Polish Army, is regulated by relevant legal acts, clearly defining the planning and programming procedures regarding the development of the Armed Forces. This means that, depending on the assessment of the security environment, it is possible to change the subject requirements, defined for the individual areas. We could have also witnessed a similar situation in case of the Narew system in 2015. Due to the above, the analytical-concept phase was also prolonged, it took additional 6 months to finalize the procedure.

Initiation of the procurement procedure regarding the Narew SHORAD system is planned to happen in the second half of 2016. The contractor for the programme is going to be selected throughout the last six months of the year 2017. As it was announced by the head of the Polish Armament Inspectorate, Brig. General Adam Duda, procurement of 19 batteries is expected. 7 examples are going to be acquired until 2022. According to the plans made by the Armament Inspectorate, Polish industry is going to be the prime contractor within the programme, however, technology transfer from a foreign supplier is taken into account, especially when it comes to the missile.

We are planning that this order will be addressed mainly to the Polish defence industry, acting as the main partner, the prime contractor. Obviously, there is a need of acquiring the short range missiles technology from one of the leading foreign contractors.

Change of the requirements regarding the Narew system probably means that the Polish Ministry of Defence decided to acquire effectors of a longer range, close to ca. 40 kilometres. Initially it was assumed that Narew missiles will be capable of destroying targets at distances of up to 25 kilometres. Procurement of a longer range missile will significantly expand the area which may be protected with the use of the Narew system. Range increase, from 25 to 40 kilometres, may double the size of the zone within which the system is effective, meaning that the Wisła system of longer range, which is much more expensive in the principle, will not have to be used to neutralize the aerodynamic (other than ballistic) threats.

Increase of the range of the Narew missiles would be tantamount to increased value of these systems in the Polish integrated air defence system. Bartosz Kownacki, Polish Ministry of Defence Secretary of State, in one of his latest statements for the Polish Press Agency, announced that the Ministry of Defence considers to construct the integrated air defence system with the use of “bottom first” method, meaning that Narew system is going to be the priority, while the Wisła programme would be realized later. Expansion of the assumed capabilities offered by the SHORAD system contributes to such decision being made by the Polish Ministry of Defence, however at the moment it is hard to determine which solution is going to be ultimately selected.

It shall be noted that the SHORAD systems in development already have the effectors at their disposal that are capable of neutralizing targets at distances of 40 kilometres or more. The above statement is supported by the examples shown by the German IRIS-T SLM missiles, manufactured by Diehl Defence, CAMM-ER missiles developed by MBDA, ESSM missiles and AMRAAM-ER effectors (being manufactured by the Raytheon company) used by the Kongsberg NASAMS systems. Israeli Spyder-MR system is also said to have similar capabilities. The above-listed systems are being offered within the scope of the Polish Narew programme.

(JP) (JG)