Poland Eyes Third Missiles Squadron, Subs for Navy

WARSAW — Poland's Ministry of Defence may acquire additional naval strike missiles (NSM) from Kongsberg to set up a third coastal squadron along the Polish Baltic Sea, said Polish Deputy Defence Minister Bartosz Kownacki.

"We are considering this, but please note that our current reconnaissance capability is insufficient. This is a significant issue. Such a squadron has a strike range of about 200 [kilometers], but our radars have a range that is considerably shorter," Kownacki told local daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. "There are several solutions that could be used. We could consider to ensure reconnaissance capabilities with the use of drones, and in the future, also through merging [the NSM] with the Wisla [medium-range air-and-missile defense] system."

The Polish Navy deployed the first NSM squadron on the shore of the Baltic Sea in 2013, and the second one a year later.

Kownacki said the ministry is planning to award a contract for the delivery of three submarines to the Polish Navy in late 2017. Warsaw aims to acquire the subs jointly with another ally, possibly Norway, according to the deputy defense minister.

"There are significant reasons to buy [the submarines] jointly with the Norwegians. This will allow us to … obtain a better price, and the profitability of establishing maintenance and service capacities will be higher," Kownacki said.

Last month, pro-government daily Nasz Dziennik was told by sources close to the submarine program that the ministry is most likely to purchase three A26-class subs from Sweden’s Saab. Other forerunners include Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, which offers its HDW-class subs, and French DCNS, which pitched its Scorpene-class subs.

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