New Polish government to reassess defence policy and plans

[Zarvan]

Poland's incoming PiS government is set to shake up Polish defence, and may re-evaluate procurement decisions like the selection of the Airbus H225M Caracal helicopter of the Raytheon Patriot SAM system. Source: Airbus Helicopters
Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc (PiS - Law and Justice Party) decisively won Poland's 25 October election, and the party looks set to shake up Poland's defence procurement structures, alter upcoming requirements, and to re-run some key defence competitions.

"Law and Justice is planning to peer through a legal microscope at the whole Polish Armed Forces Technical Modernization Programme ... there is lack of co-ordination at the Ministry of Defence level, and all branches of the Armed Forces created their requirements independently," Michal Jach, PiS MP, member of the National Defence Committee, chairman of Polish Armed Forces Parliamentary Group, and a potential defence ministerial candidate told IHS Jane's .

As such, PiS wants to reanalyse the MoD's finances and to carry out an audit of procurement costs and schedules.

For example, Jach stated that PiS wants to examine why the price of Poland's multirole helicopter programme is 50% higher than was expected and to check if the PLN30 billion (USD7.75 billion) cost of Poland's Wisla air and missile defence programme is properly estimated. He noted that all Poland's procurement programmes are delayed, usually by at least a year but up to six years in the case of its submarine programme.

Jach's comments on the PLN13 billion helicopter programme will concern Airbus Helicopters, whose H225M Caracal was selected in April. "We are planning to create the group for analysing the tender for multirole helicopters ... we are not convinced that the Polish Armed Forces should have selected a single platform for so many missions. We also cannot understand the hesitancy in numbers of helicopters purchased and technical requirement that only a single tenderer has met." However, he added that this "doesn't mean that Poland would cancel the contract. But we are trying very quickly to evaluate the current situation".

He also noted that Poland's current plan to buy new diesel-electric submarines that won't be armed with cruise missile will be reconsidered.

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New Polish government to reassess defence policy and plans - IHS Jane's 360