Poland Outlines the Future of Combat-Proven Piorun MANPADS

As announced by the PGZ Group, the annual manufacturing output for these missiles has doubled, from 300 to 600 per year. Ultimately, the Group is willing to boost those numbers up to more than a thousand. The deliveries are progressing according to a new schedule. Mesko is also delivering the Piorun EX export variant of the system. The deliveries, as the PGZ Group disclosed, are progressing better than assumed, and the manufacturing is done ahead of schedule. And this is the case even though deliveries are also finalized for the Polish MoD at the same time. The Group also managed to get ahead of the pre-planned schedule here as well. In parallel, Grom MANPADS are being manufactured to meet both domestic, as well as export demand.

As announced by Przemysław Kowalczuk, Vice-President at Mesko S.A., a development effort has been launched, regarding the Piorun system. The first new development is the Piorun+ project, aimed at upgrading the existing system.

Piorun 2, also referred to as Grzmot (Thunder), is a related undertaking. This, in the longer run, would be a replacement of Piorun, not based on changes in the current product, but employing different engineering altogether. It would offer a much greater range, and it would be designed to protect mobile land units. It cannot be ruled out that at some point in time, the Piorun+ and Piorun 2/Grzmot programmes would undergo a fusion.

At the same time, the PGZ Group has announced a major investment effort launched at Mesko. The facility is getting ready to launch manufacturing of the CAMM-ER missiles.

Piorun is a Polish MANPADS developed based on the legacy Grom system. The weapon has been brought to life by a consortium, consisting of Mesko S.A., CRW Telesystem-Mesko, and the Military University of Technology. Piorun can neutralize threats at a distance from 400 meters to 6.5 kilometers, flying at altitudes ranging from 10 meters to 4 kilometers. The missile’s average velocity is 560 meters per second. It can be shoulder-launched, or be integrated on Pilica/Poprad anti-aircraft systems. It has been successfully used in combat in Ukraine, as some of those systems were transferred by Poland, within a military aid scheme.