Poland says to speed up attack helicopter purchase due to Ukraine crisis

Poland will move the purchase of 30 attack helicopters forward by two years as part of a review of its army modernisation programme triggered by the crisis in Ukraine, Polish deputy defence minister Czeslaw Mroczek said.

 

Mroczek told Reuters that the first stage of the procurement process, originally scheduled for 2016, had already started and confirmed that 10 companies have submitted their offers but declined to name them.

 

“The events in Ukraine are having a clear negative impact on regional and international security and have made us … realise there was a need for updating our technical modernisation plans,” Mroczek said in an interview last week.

 

“As a result of the review, the plans have been updated byspeeding up the programmes which increase our military’s attack force, as well as its deterrence potential,” he said.

 

Polish military experts have suggested Boeing’s AH-64 Apache, AgustaWestland’s AW-129 Mangusta and Eurocopter’s EC-Tiger as potential candidates.

 

“We will try to have the helicopters ready for combat in 2019 or 2020,” Mroczek said. They will replace the worn-out Soviet-era Mi-24s currently used by the Polish army.

 

Poland, the biggest of the former Communist states to joinNATO after the end of the Cold War, has been a leading voice in calling for sanctions on Russia after it annexed Ukraine’s Crimea and for NATO to shift troops and equipment eastwards to reassure members close to Russia as fighting with rebels in eastern Ukraine continues.

 

Last week, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told Reuters that NATO members were “quite close” to reaching consensus on increasing the alliance’s presence in eastern Europe.

 

Poland is already in the process of purchasing 70 multi-purpose helicopters, with Airbus Helicopters, Sikorsky Aircraft and AgustaWestland competing for the tender. Sikorsky and AgustaWestland already own factories in Poland.

 

Mroczek said that following “the Ukrainian review”, Poland will also speed up the purchases of a second naval strike missile system, a long-range missile launcher and air-to-surface JASSM missiles for its fleet of 48 F-16 fighter jets.

 

The country is now also looking to buy long-range unmanned attack aircrafts, also known as drones.

Asked about Poland’s mid-range missile defence system, Mroczek confirmed the tender will be completed next year. In June, Poland shortlisted U.S. firm Raytheon and a consortium of France’s Thales and European group MBDA as potential suppliers of the system.

 

Mroczek said the role of Polish industry in the contract would be an important factor in choosing the supplier.

 

“Polish industry’s participation, that is, how big a part of the (production of) system will be left to Polish companies, will be an important consideration,” said Mroczek.

 

The companies participating in the final stage of the procurement have said the participation of Polish companies would account for a large portion of the contract.

 

Mroczek said that the modernisation programme represented “a great opportunity and vast amounts of money, which can transform Polish military technology science, and, above all, the Polish industry.”

 

Poland’s Finance Ministry estimates that the country will spend around 130 billion zlotys between 2013 and 2022 on modernising its armed forces. The country already spends 1.95 percent of its GDP on the army, one of the highest rates of military spending in the world.

Britain Wallows In Hellfire And Brimstone

Britain has ordered 500 U.S. Hellfire II AGM-114-N4/P4 missiles. This is the one with a thermobaric (fuel-air explosive) warhead that is optimized for destroying structures. The Hellfire II weighs 48 kg (106 pounds), carries a 9 kg (20 pound) warhead, and has a range of 8,000 meters. In addition to UAVs, the missile is most commonly used by the AH-64 helicopter gunship. An AH-64 can carry up to sixteen Hellfires at once. Hellfire launchers are also available for AH-1W, AH–1Z attack helicopters, MH-60R, and MH-60S naval helicopters, OH-58D/Fs, and Harvest HAWK equipped KC-130J gunships. The heaviest user in the last five years has been UAVs like the MQ-1 Predator, MQ-1C Gray Eagle, and MQ-9 Reaper. Britain uses AH-64a and MQ-9s.

 

The missile is popular for use in urban areas because the small warhead (with only about a kilogram/2.2 pounds of explosives) reduces civilian casualties. The missile is accurate enough to be sent through a window (OK, you have to be really good, and lucky, to do this) because of its laser guidance. Hellfire is the most frequently used missile during the war on terror.

 

Britain mainly uses its own version of Hellfire; Brimstone. The latest version of Brimstone uses its own radar to keep track of the target. The British 55 kg (110 pound) Brimstone was originally developed as an upgraded version of the American Hellfire. Brimstone ended up as a Hellfire in general shape only. Weighing the same as the Hellfire, Brimstone was designed to be fired by fast movers (fighter-bombers), not just (as with Hellfire) from helicopters and UAVs. Aircraft can carry more of these lightweight missiles. These are perfect for small targets, including vehicles that need to be hit without causing injuries to nearby civilians or friendly troops. This is what made Brimstone so popular in Libya.

 

A major factor in the success of Brimstone is its superior guidance system. Five years ago Britain added a dual-mode (radar and laser) seeker to Brimstone. Originally, Brimstone was to be just an American Hellfire with a British seeker (a miniature, millimeter wave radar) and configured to be launched from jets. Brimstone did that but never got a chance to show how effective it was until Afghanistan and Libya. The performance of Brimstone was particularly impressive in Libya because the missile was used so frequently. That got the Americans and French interested in using it as a highly effective anti-vehicle weapon for their fast-movers (jet fighter-bombers).

Taliban threaten to kill Prince Harry

The Taliban said today it was determined to kill Britain's Prince Harry, serving in Afghanistan four years after his previous deployment was cut short over security concerns.

A militia spokesman said the group had a "high-value plan" to attack the third in line to the British throne in southern province Helmand, one of the toughest battlefields in the 10-year war.

"We will do our best to kill Prince Harry and Britain's other troops based in Helmand," the spokesman, who gave his name as Zabihullah Mujahid, told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

"It is not important for us to kidnap him. We will target him and we will kill him," he added.

The 27-year-old Apache helicopter pilot, who hit the headlines last month after he was photographed naked at a party in Las Vegas, will spend four months based at the heavily fortified Camp Bastion in Helmand.

"Whoever fights in our country is our enemy and we will do everything possible to kill him," said Mujahid.

Britain says Harry's squadron "will provide surveillance, deterrence and, when required, close combat attack capabilities as well as escort duties for other aircraft."

In 2008, the royal was hastily withdrawn from Afghanistan when a news blackout surrounding his deployment, on the ground directing aircraft in attacks on Taliban positions, was broken. This time, however, the military has released photographs and video of him in Afghanistan from the start.

The Ministry of Defense said any risk "has been, and will continue to be, assessed."