Poland’s leading defense group angles for European tank project

WARSAW, Poland — As a centrist government and new managers are taking over control of Poland’s state-dominated defense sector, PGZ, the largest industry player here, is eager to join efforts to build Europe’s new main battle tank and boost cooperation with the continent’s defense groups .

OBRUM, a PGZ subsidiary specialized in research and development for the country’s land forces, has announced in a statement it is joining “the game for the European tank of the future.”

The company “will play an important role in the ambitious program of the European Defence Fund (EDF) whose goal is to create a European base tank, a so-called main battle tank, of a new generation,” OBRUM said.

The Gliwice-based firm stated it “has been qualified and declared by leading European partners an ideal candidate to take part in the above-mentioned program to develop a European tank.”

Developing a new tank has become something of a cottage industry in Europe, with new company groupings and funding sources popping up almost randomly from time to time. The biggest effort is the German-French Main Ground Combat System, which is progressing with high-level backing from Berlin and Paris . There is also a an industry-led effort to update the Leopard 2 fleet of European armies.

Parallel European Union-based initiatives, while seemingly disconnected, have previously served to anchor a given defense-cooperation project in the wider Brussels financing scheme, enabling subsidies to flow to projects initiated outside of it at a later time.

The bloc has allocated funding to the EDF for projects to enhance member states’ capabilities and interoperability. Some of the main expected outcomes include the development of a new generation of land platforms, among them a main battle tank. On May 16 Brussels announced the results of an EDF call for proposals under which more than €1 billion ($1.1 billion) will be distributed to support 54 joint European defense research and development projects.

The latest development in Poland comes about two months after Krzysztof Trofiniak, a seasoned defense industry manager, was named as PGZ’s chief executive. Trofiniak’s return to the group was enabled by the December 2023 swearing in of a new coalition government which ousted the right-wing Law and Justice party from power after eight years of rule.

OBRUM’s enthusiasm with regards to “taking part in such a prestigious project” marks a major shift in rhetoric compared with the one exhibited by defense and industry officials under the country’s previous cabinet. During that time, the Ministry of National Defence was showing a strong preference for U.S. and South Korean weapons, including tanks, leading Warsaw to buy M1A1 and M1A2 Abrams, and K2 Black Panthers.

At the same time, offers of cooperation put forward by Warsaw’s European allies were not taken up. A German-French invitation for Poland to join MGCS was met with little interest by the previous leadership of the Polish ministry.

“Due to the distant implementation schedule of the MGCS project and the lack of decisions on its final form, a decision has been taken to reinforce the Polish Armed Forces with M1 Abrams and K2 Black Panther tanks,” a ministry spokesperson told Defense News in July 2023, roughly five months before the change in government.

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

波兰华沙——随着中间派政府和新的管理者接管波兰国家主导的国防部门，波兰最大的工业企业PGZ渴望加入建造欧洲新型主战坦克的行列，并加强与欧洲大陆国防集团的合作。

OBRUM 是 PGZ 的子公司，专门从事该国陆军的研究和开发。该公司在一份声明中宣布，它将加入“未来欧洲坦克的竞争”。

OBRUM公司表示，该公司“将在欧洲防务基金（EDF）雄心勃勃的计划中发挥重要作用，该计划的目标是打造新一代欧洲基础坦克，即所谓的主战坦克”。

这家位于格利维采的公司表示，“它已获得欧洲领先合作伙伴的认可和批准，成为参与上述欧洲坦克研发项目的理想候选者。”

在欧洲，研发新型坦克已发展成一种类似家庭作坊式产业的活动，新的公司联盟和资金来源层出不穷，几乎是随机涌现。其中规模最大的项目是德法联合研制的“主力地面作战系统”（Main Ground Combat System），该项目在柏林和巴黎的高层支持下稳步推进。此外，还有一项由业界主导的计划，旨在升级欧洲各国军队的豹2坦克。

虽然看似互不相干，但欧盟内部的平行倡议此前曾将特定的国防合作项目纳入更广泛的布鲁塞尔融资体系，从而使补贴能够流向之后在该体系之外启动的项目。

欧盟已向欧洲国防基金（EDF）拨款，用于开展旨在提升成员国能力和互操作性的项目。一些主要预期成果包括研发新一代陆地平台，其中包括主战坦克。5月16日，布鲁塞尔公布了欧洲国防基金项目征集提案的结果，根据该提案，将分配超过10亿欧元（11亿美元）的资金，用于支持54个欧洲联合防务研发项目。

波兰的最新进展发生在克日什托夫·特罗菲尼亚克（Krzysztof Trofiniak）被任命为PGZ首席执行官约两个月后。这位经验丰富的国防工业经理人重返PGZ集团，得益于2023年12月新联合政府的就职，该政府推翻了执政八年的右翼法律与公正党。

奥布鲁姆对“参与如此重要的项目”表现出的热情，标志着其措辞与该国前任内阁时期国防和工业官员的态度发生了重大转变。当时，国防部强烈倾向于美国和韩国的武器，包括坦克，导致华沙购买了M1A1和M1A2艾布拉姆斯主战坦克以及K2黑豹自行高炮。

与此同时，华沙的欧洲盟友提出的合作提议并未被接受。德法两国邀请波兰加入MGCS的提议也未引起波兰外交部前任领导层的足够重视。

“由于MGCS项目实施时间表尚不明确，且最终方案尚未确定，因此决定用M1艾布拉姆斯主战坦克和K2黑豹坦克加强波兰武装部队，”国防部发言人在2023年7月告诉《防务新闻》，当时距离政府换届还有大约五个月。

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。