Poland Inaugurates First PILICA+ Defense System

At the 34th Air Defense Missile Squadron, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz attended the delivery of the first serial PILICA+ missile and anti-aircraft artillery system.

This is the first of sixteen production systems to be delivered to the Polish Armed Forces under an agreement between the National Defense Ministry’s Armaments Agency and the PGZ PILICA+ Consortium.

Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz announced that six more PILICA + systems are being delivered; the Wisła, Narew, and Pilica programs are the most important, and soon there will be another significant air defense program that the Minister described as very innovative.

The contract signed in 2023 covers the production of 16 new units (including a training unit for the Air Force Training Center) and the 6 PILICA units already produced, which will be integrated with new elements to be upgraded to the PILICA+ standard.

This configuration will be integrated with short-range CAMM missile launchers and Bystra radar stations produced by PIT-RADWAR and will constitute the lower layer of the multilayer air and missile defense that the Warsaw Armed Forces are organizing.

Each PILICA + battery will be organized on a Zenit-MP+ command post, a Bystra radar station, and two iLauncher short-range air-defense missile launchers from MBDA, as well as three vehicles with twin 23mm machine guns and Grom/Piorun missiles.

It is anticipated that PILICA+ will eventually include anti-aircraft guns with programmable ammunition and a system designed to combat unmanned aerial vehicles (UAS and loiteing munitions).

Each fire unit of the PSR-A PILICA system is equipped with 2 23mm machine guns and 2 heat-seeking Grom/Piorun anti-aircraft missiles, as well as an optoelectronic suite with a thermal camera and a laser rangefinder.

Source and photo credit @Polish National Defense Ministry