On July 20, 2022, at a ceremony in Warsaw, Polish Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak approved a framework agreement of the Armaments Agency of the Ministry of National Defense of Poland with the Polish state Defense Industrial association Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa SA (PGZ) for the supply of promising ground-based self-propelled anti-tank missile systems of a new generation for the Polish Army under the Ottokar Brzoza program, equipped with Brimstone guided missiles the British branch of the MBDA European Association (MBDA UK).
The alleged appearance (possibly conditional) of a wheeled combat vehicle of a promising Polish ground-based self-propelled anti-tank missile system under the Ottokar Brzoza program, equipped with MBDA Brimstone guided missiles, from a poster from the approval ceremony of the agreement for their supply to the Polish Army, 07/20/2022 (c) the Ministry of National Defense of Poland
At the ceremony, Blashchak said that the first prototype of the self-propelled complex under the Ottokar Brzoza program should be ready by the end of 2023, and serial deliveries should be started "in three years", that is, in 2025. Blaszczak pointed out that "the situation in Ukraine became a factor that shaped the development of the Ottokar Brzoza program, and led to the acceleration of the re-equipment of the Polish Army with anti-tank weapons."
The parameters of the framework agreement are not disclosed. The company Huta Stalowa Wola SA (HSW), which is part of PGZ, announced in its press release that "executive contracts will be concluded in the near future, which will allow the production and delivery of the system to begin. These contracts will confirm the final configuration of the battery modules [kits], in accordance with the selected chassis and the selected anti-tank missile."
The Ottokar Brzoza program (named after Ottokar Brzoza-Brzezina, commander of the 1st Artillery Regiment of the Polish Legions Jozef Pilsudski in 1917-1919) was launched in 2019 with the aim of creating and acquiring a promising long-range ground-based self-propelled ATGM for the Polish Army. With formal competition from the very beginning, the obvious preference of the Polish side as the basis for the program was the Brimstone missile system produced by the British branch of the European association MBDA (MBDA UK) in the ground launch version, which was eventually chosen (apparently in the Brimstone 2 version). In 2019 and in May 2022, PGZ signed agreements with MBDA UK on the joint promotion of Brimstone missiles under the Ottokar Brzoza program.
To implement the delivery of self-propelled ATGMs under the program, the PGZ Group has created the PGZ-OTTOKAR consortium, which includes the enterprises HSW (manufacturer of combat vehicles), Mesko and Wojskowe Zakłady Elektroniczne (WZE). Licensed assembly of Brimstone missiles will be carried out at the Mesko plant with the participation of WZE.
Earlier, PGZ offered various variants of ground-based self-propelled Brimstone missile launchers under the program - in particular, in 2019, variants of tracked combat vehicles based on the BMP-1 (with 12 missile launchers, a prototype was demonstrated) and on the chassis of the South Korean K9 Thunder ACS (with 24 launchers) were offered, later they were offered variants of launchers on the chassis of the promising Polish Borsuk BMP, the Rosomak wheeled APC (licensed Patria AMV, 8x8) and the Zubr wheeled armored vehicle (4x4).
However, in the end, the Polish army chose a cheaper version of a combat vehicle with Brimstone missiles based on a new MRAP (4x4) class wheeled armored vehicle, presented by HSW, part of PGZ, in cooperation with the Czech company Tatra Export (a subsidiary of Tatra Trucks, part of the Czech-Slovak private defense industry association Czechoslovak Group). This machine was first presented in its basic version at the Polish defense industry exhibition MSPO-2021 in September 2021. and in fact, it is a licensed version of the T815 Patriot MATMMV machine demonstrated for several years by the Czech Excalibur Army/Czechoslovak Group. It is assumed that this car will be manufactured by HSW in Poland with assembly at the former Autosan bus factory in Sanok, which HSW has co-owned since 2016 together with the Polish company PIT-Radwar, with the delivery of the chassis by Tatra Trucks.
This HSW machine in the basic configuration has a full combat weight of 13 tons with the possibility of increasing it to 18 tons due to increased protection. The capacity is eight people, including two crew members. The four-door armored hull provides the declared level of ballistic protection STANAG 4569 Level 2-4 and the level of mine protection STANAG 4569 Level 2a / 2b - 3a / 3b (as you can understand, lower levels are provided in the basic prototype). The car can be equipped with a Tatra diesel engine (300 kW) or Cummins (270 kW), and uses an Allison 4500SP automatic six-speed gearbox. The maximum speed on the highway is 110 km/h, the power reserve on the highway is up to 700 km. The machine has an adjustable ground clearance from 260 to 430 mm.
In the selected version of the self-propelled ATGM, the vehicle must have a lifting box-shaped armored launcher with Brimstone missiles. At the signing ceremony of the agreement, the launcher was depicted with 12 missiles (apparently conditionally), however, according to Polish specialized media, in fact, the launcher should have eight missiles. The complexes should be supplied to the Polish army with battery "modules" (kits). Each battery "module" will include eight combat vehicles, as well as a battery commander's control vehicle, two platoon commanders' control vehicles, two artillery reconnaissance vehicles, two medical evacuation vehicles (all must be carried out on a single 4x4 armored chassis), and two missile transport vehicles, one universal mobile chassis repair workshop and one universal mobile workshop for the repair of weapons and electronics (on the chassis of Polish military vehicles Jelcz).
In the Polish army, it is planned to equip anti-tank regiments attached to each of the Polish divisions with these complexes (now there are four divisions and two more are planned to be formed). The first serial complexes, according to Blaszczak, will have to be received by the 14th Suwalki Anti-Tank Artillery Regiment (14 Suwalski Pułk Artylerii Przeciwpancernej im. Józefa Piłsudskiego) of central subordination, stationed in Suwalki in the notorious "Suwalki corridor". Now this regiment is equipped with old Soviet combat vehicles 9P133 self-propelled anti-tank missile system 9K14P "Malyutka-P", made on the basis of BRDM-2, as well as a number of modern portable ATGM Eurospike / Rafael Slpke-LR.
The Brimstone missile was developed and manufactured by MBDA UK (the original developer was the GEC-Marconi missile division, later divided between BAE Systems and MBDA UK) and was originally created as an aviation one. The rocket is made using the body of the American Hellfire missile, but uses a new engine, warhead and homing head - initially active radar millimeter range in the 94 GHz band, which allows you to implement the principle of "shot and forgot". The Brimstone missile with a mass of 50 kg is designed to be carried by tactical aircraft and began to enter service with the British Air Force in the basic version in 2005, and since 2008 - in a modified version with an additional semi-active laser guidance channel (Dual Mode Brimstone - DMB). The length of the rocket is 1.8 m, the diameter of the body is 180 mm. The Brimstone 1 tandem cumulative missile warhead weighing 6.2 kg.
Since 2016, the Brimstone 2 missile has also been put into service with a modified two-channel guidance system, but due to the use of a new engine and warhead, it has a significantly increased firing range (when launched from a jet from a high altitude, the range has been increased from 20 to 60 km). Since 2018, tests of the Brimstone 3 rocket with an improved guidance system (with the introduction of additional inertial-satellite correction and datalink) have begun,
In fact, in the chosen guise, the firing range of the Brimstone missile from a ground launcher is stated to be PGZ "up to 12 km". Poland, apparently. It was supposed to be the first customer of Brimstone missiles in the ground launch variant, but it was "outstripped" by Ukraine, which received these missiles as military assistance from the UK and has been using them in combat operations against Russian troops from improvised ground mobile launchers on a car chassis since the beginning of May 2022.
Approval ceremony of the agreement for the supply to the Polish Army of a promising Polish ground-based self-propelled anti-tank missile system under the Ottokar Brzoza program with MBDA Brimstone guided missiles, 07/20/2022 (c) Ministry of National Defense of Poland
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