MANPADS: Man Portable Air Defense System
The Grom (meaning "thunder" in Polish) is a man-portable air-defense system produced in Poland and based on the Soviet man-portable infrared homing surface-to-air missile (SAM) 9K38 Igla
Estonia joins Poland in buying Piorun
anti-aircraft missiles
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
Sep 8, 03:59 PM
Under the latest deal, Mesko will deliver 100 Piorun gripstocks and 300 missiles to Estonia. (Polish Defence Ministry)
WARSAW, Poland — Estonia on Wednesday signed a
deal to acquire the Piorun weapon, a short-range, man-portable air defense
system already on order by Poland.
Estonia’s Centre for Defence Investment and
Poland’s state-owned defense company Mesko signed the agreement, which comes
about six months after Russia invaded Ukraine. The deal was inked in
the presence of Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak and Estonian Defence
Minister Hanno Pevkur.
“Deliveries of Pioruns to Estonia will begin next
year,” Błaszczak said in a statement provided from his ministry. “We are trying
to build resilience in the situation in which the world has found itself, in
which Ukraine was attacked by Russia.”
Since the war’s outbreak on Feb. 24, the Ukrainian
military has operated
Piorun MANPADS to shoot down Russian aircraft, drones and
missiles. The system can hit targets at an altitude of up to 4 kilometers (2.5
miles) and has a range of up to 6.5 kilometers (4 miles), according to its
manufacturer.
Under the deal, Mesko will deliver 100 Piorun
gripstocks and 300 missiles to Estonia, according to the Polish statement. The
system is an upgraded version of the Grom MANPAD.
Training on the Piorun for Estonian forces is
expected to begin in 2023, followed by first deliveries in the second half of
that year.
The contract, Pevkur said in a statement, “is a
leap forward for the Estonian short-range air defence capability, which in turn
is an upgrade for Estonian self-defence capability as a whole. In addition,
this procurement is also a landmark for our defence cooperation, both in terms
of strengthening regional security as well as bilateral cooperation.”
Estonia allocated €103 million (U.S. $102 million)
to boost its air defense capacities, according to the Estonian statement.
In June, Poland’s Defence Ministry placed an order
with Mesko to acquire 600 Piorun gripstocks and 3,500 missiles under a deal
worth about 3.5 billion zloty (U.S. $735.8 million). Mesko said deliveries to
the Polish military are to begin this year.
The company specializes in making missile systems
and ammunition, and is a subsidiary of Poland’s state-run defense group PGZ.
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