Polish defence ministry inks deals with domestic producers

The contracts are for the delivery of an Identification Friend-or-Foe (IFF) system and for developing a new explosive system to replace anti-personnel mines, officials said.

The new deals “mark another step in modernising the Polish army,” Deputy Defence Minister Bartosz Kownacki said during the signing ceremony.

Kownacki told a news conference that the IFF contract was worth about PLN 67 million (EUR 15.8 million, USD 18.4 million) and was designed to adapt Poland’s MIG-29 aircraft “to the highest NATO standards and requirements.”

A military aviation plant based in the north-central city of Bydgoszcz will provide the military with the IFF system, Kownacki said.

The other contract is for research and development work to develop a new alternative explosive system to replace anti-personnel mines, which can no longer be used under the so-called Ottawa Convention, according to Kownacki.

The PLN 15 million (EUR 3.5 million, USD 4.1 million) deal is with a group of domestic companies, including the Military Institute of Technical Engineering, the Belma engineering plant in Bydgoszcz, and the MindMade company, a provider of electronic devices and systems for military use.

(gs)

Source: IAR