Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Poland is building what it bills as Europe’s most advanced anti-drone system following Russia’s airspace violations against Nato members.
Warsaw decided to set up the system in response to Russia launching about 20 drones into Polish airspace in September last year. Developing European anti-drone technology has gained fresh urgency after Iranian Shahed drones hit a British base in Cyprus last week following the US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
The Polish system, dubbed San, is being developed by a Polish-Norwegian consortium and is expected to cost about €3.5bn. It will be financed with EU loans allocated to Warsaw under the EU’s new Safe programme, designed to increase arms production in Europe to counter Russia’s aggression.
San will comprise 18 mobile anti-drone batteries, each equipped with sensors and effectors linked to a central command system. Radar components and guns mounted on hundreds of vehicles will patrol the Polish border and connect to national and allied defence systems.
“September was a big lesson for Poland because we had to use what we had, meaning fighter planes with missiles that each cost $1mn to shoot down drones that cost perhaps $1,000,” said retired Polish general Jarosław Gromadziński.
“It showed we need to fill quickly a big gap in our air defences,” he added.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has promised “the most modern, intelligent and integrated anti-drone defence system in Europe”.
The system will combine electronic warfare capabilities, including jamming and navigation disruption, with kinetic options. It will be able to deploy interceptor drones, fire 30mm guns, and launch guided missiles capable of targeting low-flying helicopters and unmanned aircraft.
San is being developed by Poland’s state-controlled defence group PGZ, Norwegian defence company Kongsberg and Polish radar manufacturer Advanced Protection Systems (APS).
The government awarded the San contracts without a tender and has set an ambitious timetable. The first batteries are due to be delivered to the Polish armed forces before the end of the year, with the full system expected to become operational within 24 months.
While PGZ and Kongsberg have established production records and weapons tested on Ukraine’s battlefield, the principal technical challenge for San lies in integrating the various components into the central command architecture being developed by APS.
The consortium held its first field demonstration in February, showcasing some of the guns to be incorporated into the system.
But the project has hit some political roadblocks, as the rightwing opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party is opposed to Warsaw using EU loans, claiming it would give Brussels a say in sovereign Polish procurement decisions.
President Karol Nawrocki, a PiS nominee, is set to meet Tusk on Tuesday after he warned that he could veto the Safe funding. Nawrocki has suggested using Polish central bank reserves as a cheaper source of funding.
Tusk responded that his government could seek alternative financing in case of a presidential veto, which he said was unjustified.
“Consider whether you really want to strike at the very heart of Poland while such a cruel war is raging abroad [in Ukraine],” Tusk told Nawrocki last month. “No one will forgive you for this.”
San “is a completely new concept, but building on the experience of Ukraine”, said Radosław Piesiewicz, co-owner of APS.
APS has supplied Ukraine with radar and radio systems over the past two years and also formed a partnership with UK-based MSI Defence Systems to produce anti-drone technology. Piesiewicz declined to disclose financial details about his company but said the San contract would more than double its revenues.
For APS, the San contract represents “joining the world elite, I would say this is us going to a different orbit,” Piesiewicz said. He acknowledged the possibility of initial technical difficulties but said he was “fully confident’ that San would prove a step change for European anti-drone defence.
Kongsberg, which has secured a €1.4bn contract to supply turrets and remote weapon stations capable of firing US-made APKWS laser-guided rockets, described San as evidence of Poland’s growing role in European defence.
“The San programme confirms Poland’s position as a regional hub for counter-drone innovation,” said spokesperson Ivar Simonsen. “To us, Poland, together with Denmark and Germany, are the three leading countries that have moved from talking points to actions and actually started placing orders at scale.”
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen last year said it was time for Europe to build “a drone wall”.
But Polish officials argue Warsaw cannot wait for broader EU initiatives to take shape.
“Instead of talking about a European drone wall that sounds like a dream, we want to start building right now a system that can be actually tested on our Polish border,” said Gromadziński.
Read the full article here