Land Forces
Army is to Buy Anti-Tank Rounds for the Polish Leopard Tanks
The Armament Inspectorate is in the middle of the proceedure which aims at acquiring 120 mm anti tank ammunition for the Polish Leopard 2 tanks. Mesko S.A. company will be probable supplier of the new batch of ammo.
In accordance to the information sent to Defence24.pl by the Armament Inspevtorate, the organ, “in August this year started proceedings related to supply of the 120x570 round with APFSDS-T /sabot/ projectile. The proceedure is being carried out in compliance with the rules specified by the MoD’s 118/MON decision, in a closed mode, involving MESKO S.A company. Currently, negotiations with MESKO S.A. are on the go..”
The proceedings carried out in compliance with the 118/MON decision – that means that the basic national security interest is present. Due to this reason the procedure is not carried out in an open manner. The ammunition to be obtained will be also usable in case of the Leopard 2A5 tanks.
Currently the Polish Army is equipped with German-made DM-33 sabot rounds, which have no sufficient penetration parameters against the latest variants of Russian or even Belorussian tanks, which are equipped with “heavy” reactive armors. Information released earlier stated that Mesko S.A. signed a deal on high-explosive-fragmenting rounds, which are to be purchased between 2014 and 2017.
When it comes to acquisition of 125 mm sabot rounds for the Polish Army’s T-72M1 and PT-91 tanks, the Armament Inspectorate stated that “it is not involved in any activities aiming at acquiring new sabot rounds for the PT-91 tanks”. According to the available information, most of the supplies of this type of ammo the Polish Army has at its disposal consist of old type Soviet-styled projectiles. It seems that MoD should also consider procurement of modern anti-tank ammunition also for the PT-91 tanks, in order to use these tanks, which are still an important part of the Polish Army’s inventory, to the fullest possible extent.