Poland is beginning the deployment of the “San” anti-drone system. Today, in the presence of Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, contracts were signed for the supply of equipment, weapons, and system integration. The project will be implemented by a consortium consisting of the Polish Armaments Group, the private company APS, and Norway’s Kongsberg. The system is expected to be deployed within two years. Its cost is estimated at 15 billion zlotys (about $4.3 billion).
“We are dealing with an absolute breakthrough in terms of effective and efficient protection of the Polish, European, and NATO eastern border, as well as in the most sensitive element — air defense, above all protection against modern methods of aggression,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
According to Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, the plan is to obtain 18 anti-drone batteries, 52 fire platoons, 18 command platoons, and more than 700 vehicles of various purposes.
“All this means that we will be extremely effective in countering threats coming from the east. The night of September 9 to 10, when our airspace was violated and Russian unmanned aerial vehicles appeared over NATO territory for the first time, became a turning point,” he said.
According to Poland’s Ministry of National Defence, the “San” system will consist of anti-aircraft batteries, each including three fire platoons and a support platoon. Each fire platoon will have the capability to independently detect, track, identify, and engage aerial targets. As Defence24 writes, the platoons will be equipped with 30 mm and 35 mm cannons, 12.7 mm machine guns, small interceptor missiles, kamikaze drones, and electronic warfare systems. It is assumed that “San” will be able to counter not only strike drones of the Shahed-Gerbera type, but also smaller unmanned aerial vehicles.
“San” will become another layer of Poland’s air defense system, which already includes the “Wisla” system based on Patriot medium-range air defense systems, the “Narew” system based on CAMM short-range air defense systems, as well as “Pilica” and “Pilica+” systems based on anti-aircraft guns and Grom and Piorun man-portable air defense systems.