Nine companies of the Polish Armaments Group (PGZ) have concluded an agreement with the British concern MBDA UK on the design and production of tank destroyers using Brimstone anti-tank guided missiles. The contract provides for the integration of anti-tank missiles with the tank destroyer squadron module selected by Poland and the production of the Brimstone missile at the companies of the Polish Armaments Group.

PGZ’s activities are part of the OTTOKAR-BRZOZA program, which assumes the acquisition by the Polish military of a battery module for self-propelled tank destroyers based on a modern platform. Apart from the tank destroyers themselves, the module will also include support and command vehicles.

The Polish-British agreement is one of the effects of the new Law on the Defense of the Fatherland. The act provides for the establishment of the Armed Forces Support Fund, which will increase expenditure on the modernization of the army. The signing of the agreement on the operation of the Fund has been announced by the Minister of National Defense (MON) Mariusz Błaszczak and the president of Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK) Beata Daszyńska-Muzyczka.

The contract will specify the rules for making payments from the Fund’s resources, developing and updating the financial plan of the Fund, developing and updating the forecast of revenues and expenses of the Fund for the purposes of developing the program, granting financing as well as the scope and dates of drawing up a report on the implementation of the Fund’s financial plan.

The Law on Defense of the Fatherland entered into force on April 23. It has accelerated the increase in the share of defense expenditure in GDP, and indicated the source of their financing, apart from the state budget, by the Armed Forces Support Fund and revenues from the sale of shares in industrial defense potential companies. It also allows purchasing equipment for the army through leasing.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński