MSPO Show Benefits From E. European Defense Spending Hike
Sep. 6, 2014 - 04:21PM | By JAROSLAW ADAMOWSKI |
FILED UNDER
World News
Europe
KIELCE, POLAND — This year’s MSPO defense industry show here attracted a record number of exhibitors and visitors, benefiting from Eastern Europe’s increasing focus on defense and security triggered by the Ukraine crisis.
The theme of regional response to Russia’s increasingly aggressive military actions in the EU’s eastern neighborhood, and the resulting armament programs by its member states, dominated the event, which took place Sept. 1-4.
On the first day of the event, which hosted 500 exhibitors from 27 countries and an estimated 14,000 visitors, Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak and his French counterpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian, unveiled plans to further cooperate on defense industrial issues.
“France has been one of our closest allies in the EU and NATO,” Siemoniak said at the Sept. 1 conference. “We are hoping for an active cooperation with France on our military modernization program.”
The Polish official said that under the country’s military modernization program worth 130 billion zloty (US $42.7 billion) in acquisitions by 2022, Poland is aiming to complete two of its key defense procurements in 2015. They are the tender for anti-missile and air defense systems, and the ministry’s contest for 70 multimission combat support helicopters. Local media have reported that the two deals could be worth up to 26.5 billion zloty and 8 billion zloty, respectively.
“I think that the French offer is of quality, and these solutions are already used by the French Armed Forces,” Le Drian said.
Defense companies bidding for the two major procurements were present at the show, with their trade show booths prominently situated and noticeable.
The two bidders for the air defense tender are France’s Eurosam consortium of MBDA and Thales offering surface-to-air missile platform/terrain systems to Poland, and US-based Raytheon, with its Patriot interceptor. The three aircraft makers aiming to secure the helicopter contract are American-based Sikorsky, with its UH-60 Black Hawk, AgustaWestland, offering the AW149, and Airbus Helicopters, with its EC-725.
Although Poland decided to exclude the third potential bidder for the air defense contract, the Medium Extended Air Defense System program, the consortium was also at the show. In addition to Polish and French companies, arms makers from the US, Canada, Germany, the UK, Turkey, Israel, the Czech Republic, Norway, Hungary and Ukraine appeared in Kielce.
In anticipation of the planned military procurements by Poland, a number of domestic and foreign manufacturers showed their designs of a high-mobility vehicle that could replace Poland’s Honker vehicle. The Defense Ministry plans to purchase about 1,600 vehicles of up to 3.5 tons in both an armored and non-armored variant. These included the Lomot vehicle, unveiled in Kielce by state-run Polish Defense Holding.
While no major deals were signed during the four-day event, a number of smaller contracts were inked by Eastern European allies in Kielce.
These included a deal signed by Lithuania’s Defense Ministry and Polish arms maker Mesko to acquire GROM short-range man-portable air defense systems for the country’s military. The deal is worth some €35 million (US $45 million), the ministry said in a statement.
Brig. Gen. Gintautas Zenkevicius said overhauling the short-range air defense capability of Lithuania is “one of the priorities of the Lithuanian military armament program.” The missiles are designed to “strengthen the capacity of the Lithuanian Armed Forces and ensure protection against combat aircraft,” Zenkevicius said.
Meanwhile, two of the region’s leading countries have announced plans to increase their military expenditure next year in reaction to the increasing security concerns.
In early September, the Polish government adopted the draft state budget for 2015, with the country’s defense budget set at 38.09 billion zloty (US $11.8 billion), according to the information obtained by local news agency PAP. This means that Poland will spend a record amount on national defense next year, increasing the Defense Ministry’s budget by about 19 percent compared with a year earlier. Of these, 8.24 billion zloty are to be spent on the technical modernization of the Polish armed forces.
Also, the neighboring Czech Republic is planning to boost defense expenditure in 2015, with the three main parliamentary parties agreeing Sept. 3. The Czech defense budget will be gradually raised to 1.4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020.
For 2014, the Czech Republic earmarked about 41.99 billion krona (US $1.97 billion) to defense, representing only 1.08 percent of its GDP, according to data released by the ministry.
“Ahead of the NATO summit [in Newport], this is a clear signal to our allies that the Czech government’s approach to defense and security issues is responsible,” Czech Defense Minister Martin Stropnicky said on Sept. 3. ■
