Land Forces
Polish Army Looks Forward to Acquiring Heavy Anti-Tank Grenade Launchers
The Armament Inspectorate announced that it is willing to carry out a technical dialogue, covering the procurement procedure concerning the portable “hand-held” multi-purpose anti-tank grenade launchers, with dedicated ammunition. Back in the year 2015, Polish Ministry of Defence was only informing about acquisition of single-use, disposable, anti tank grenade launchers, hence maybe some changes have emerged, when it comes to this important anti-tank weapons system.
Within the framework of the dialogue, questions asked by the military, concerning the compliance of this type of a weapons system with the initial tactical and technical, as well as functional, requirements, are expected to be answered. Such analysis is going to be founded on the basis of assessment of the parameters and specifications of the products offered by a variety of contractors. Moreover, training and logistics support packages are also to be taken into the equation.
The Polish Army is willing to acquire hand-held multi-purpose multiple use grenade launchers that would utilize a variety of modern ammunition types, including anti-tank, HEAT, or HE rounds.
The technical dialogue will be finalized by 28th April, meanwhile, the potential contractors may submit the relevant documents by 22nd February.
The new grenade launcher is going to replace the currently used RGPpancc-7W/D (RPG-7 derivative) weaponry.
Initiation of the “technical dialogue” procedure is a proof of the fact that stance adopted by the Polish Ministry of Defence has been changed, when it comes to the multiple-shot weaponry, since only single-use launchers have been expected to be acquired at the end of the year 2015. The multiple-use grenade launchers are to complement their single-use counterparts, making it possible to act against heavier targets (e.g. protected by ERA) and at much more vast distances. On the other hand, this is yet another technical dialogue concerning a dedicated weapons system, but with no finalization seen in case of other procedures, related to procurement of similar armament with equivalent field of use (such as the single-use grenade launchers).
The issue of the anti tank weapons requires a high level of decisiveness and speedy introduction of new equipment into the inventory of the Polish Army. It shall be emphasized that the degree of structural complexity of single- or multiple-use grenade launchers, or even of the anti-tank guided missiles, is much lower than the one applicable, e.g. in case of tracked combat vehicles, which makes it possible to simultaneously introduce several types of ATGMs simultaneously, with the same factor being applicable in case of restarted or additional procurement processes. And this would make it possible to quickly expand the capabilities remaining at disposal of the Polish land forces and the elements of the newly formed Territorial Defence component.