Poland MND finalises offset agreements for PAC-3 WISLA Phase II

The Phase II of WISLA programme focuses on modernising the Polish Army’s defence equipment to counter rising threats. Credit: © Polish Ministry of National Defence/Polish Government.

The Polish Ministry of National Defence (MND) has signed offset agreements for elements of medium-range anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems, under the WISLA Phase II programme.

The agreements have been signed with US-based defence contractors Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.

It has an estimated value of approximately PLN1bn ($241.36m).

As part of this agreement, the two US companies will support Poland’s defence industrial base by ensuring that the Polish industry can provide service, repair and production facilities related to WISŁA system domestically.

The major elements included under WISŁA system are Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC)-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) missiles and Lower Tier Air and Missile Defence Sensor (LTAMDS) radar.

According to the Polish MND, another crucial aspect of the new agreement is the inclusion of Polish industry partners in the group of “certified suppliers” for US-based companies.

As per a Lockheed Martin’s media release, the Polish offset companies included in this programme are PGZ (Warsaw), PCO (Warsaw), WZL-1 (Deblin), WZL-2 (Bydgoszcz) and Mesko (Skarzysko-Kamienna).

Lockheed Martin Poland, Central and East Europe director Robert Orzylowski said: “Our partnership with Polish industrial base and MND is providing real economic prosperity to local communities across Poland and delivering critical security assets to Polish armed forces.

“This work also boosts critical skills needed to develop national industrial capability and expertise for future.”

The latest effort further aims to modernise and strengthen the Polish Army’s defence equipment and capabilities to counter the rising threats from Russia’s “aggressive” policy.

Poland National Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak said: “Experience from the war in Ukraine shows that air and missile defence is very important.

“I am therefore very pleased that after five years we can once again finalise offset agreements which precede the next phase of our cooperation with regard to acquiring further batteries of the Patriot system for the equipment of the Polish Armed Forces.”

In 2019, Northrop Grumman received a contract from the US Army to produce integrated air and missile defence battle command system for Poland under WISLA Phase-I programme.