Polish Prison Service Purchase Beretta ARX160A3 Carbines

[Zarvan]

Members of the Polish Prison Service training with PM-06 Submachine Guns (SW)

The Polish Prison Service has signed a contract to procure 350 semi automatic Beretta ARX160A3 carbines. These have been procured through a Polish company UMO. The Beretta reportedly beat out a number of other competitors to win the contract.

The Polish prison service, the Służba Więzienna, are under the control of the Polish Ministry of Justice and initially put out a tender for carbines in May 2018. Six submissions were offered with only four reportedly being tested. According to MilMag, the Beretta beat out submissions from FB Radom who offered the MSBS 5.56K, Griffin Group Defense offered the FN SCAR-L and CZ offered the BREN 2 while B&T and LMT Rifles were not evaluated. Testing was completed in July and the contract awarded in August with fulfil,Met scheduled by October.

Beretta’s ARX160A3, introduced in 2013 (Beretta Defense)

The contract, worth 2,511,950.2 złoty or $664,551, was weighed 60% toward price with the UMO – Beretta offer narrowly beating out the submission from FB Radom. The contract marks Beretta’s first sales to Poland. The Warsaw-based UMO are a military hardware dealer who, according to their website, have facilitated deals and provided equipment to both Poland’s Special Forces and the Polish Police. The company represents a number of foreign companies in Poland, including Beretta.

The purchase of the new rifles also coincides with the beginning of the Służba Więzienna‘s transition to a new uniform. The new rifles will join the prison service’s current issue weapons that include shotguns from Winchester and Mossberg (the 500 series purchased earlier this year), the Walther P-99 pistol, and the 9x19mm PM-06 submachine gun.

Beretta will ship the carbines with a sling, two 30 round magazines, a cleaning kit and a user manual. MilMag has suggested the contract unit price is as much as $1,900, though this seems very high. The contract states that the 350 semi-automatic ARX160A3s will be delivered within 90 days, or before the 31st of October.

Sources:

‘Poland-Warsaw: Rifles, 2018/S 153-350865, Contract award notice’, 10/08/18, (source)

‘Prison Service with ARX 160A3’ MilMag, 16/08/18, (source)


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