Posted on 08/07/2012 8:20:59 AM PDT by JerseyanExile
The Polish Army plans to acquire up to 1,000 new tanks in different variants, reported local daily Rzeczpospolita.
It is expected that Poland’s Ministry of Defense will sign a deal to launch production of the Anders, the tank prototype developed by Bumar Group’s OBRUM Gliwice research unit, according to the Polish newspaper.
“The order will be placed with the Polish defense industry, but to boost the design and production phase, it will be vital to cooperate with top foreign defense manufacturers,” said retired . Gen. Waldemar Skrzypczak, Poland’s deputy defense minister responsible for the armed forces’ modernization.
The Polish tank program is part of a plan to overhaul the country’s land forces. In January, Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said that “launching a national tank program as part of efforts to increase the [land forces’] mobility” is one of the Army’s key modernization priorities.
The amount of the planned purchase was not disclosed by the deputy defense minister.
As earlier reported, the prototype is a 32- to 40-ton vehicle, depending on the configuration. The light tank carries a 120mm gun by Swiss group Ruag, and it can carry a crew of three to seven. The Anders was fitted with a 530-kilowatt engine produced by Germany’s MTU Friedrichshafen, which enables a maximum speed capacity of 50 mph. Its turret was equipped with a Trophy active protection system made by Israel’s Rafael.
The Polish military plans to begin testing the Anders within two years, Skrzypczak said.
Krzysztof Krystowski, Bumar’s CEO, has announced plans to involve private defense companies in what could be one of the largest acquisitions of the Polish armed forces in the forthcoming years.
Set up in 2002, the state-owned Bumar Group is Poland’s leading defense industry player.
When you get stabbed in the back by an ally with a chance of getting re-elected its time to take matters into your own hands.
Whoops, I just realized that the second image I posted was not of the Anders family, but instead of the Austrian ASCOD.
bttt
Gee, I hope World of Tanks comes out with a Polish line of tanks...
NFS
550 kilowatt engine? Is it electric?
A fitting tribute to name the tank after General Anders.
1 KW = 1.34102209 horsepower.
746 Watts = 1 HP
737HP
Good for them. History has taught them to rely on no one but themselves.
Western Civilization owes a debt to John III Sobieski and the Polish Cavalry for mounting the largest cavalry charge in history to save Vienna from the Ottomans.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vienna
The Ottoman commander returned home in defeat and was strangled ceremoniously with a silk cord.
that was also the turning point. From that point on, Turkey systematically retreated — losing Hungary in the 1600s, much of the Caucasus and some of the Balkans in the 1700s, then granting autonomy to the Balkans in teh 1800s and losing Crimea etc. and it’s eventual collapse in 1918.
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