Poland and Romania join the race to produce military drones

Russia’s offensive in Ukraine has disrupted European defense plans and accelerated rearmament across the European Union. Poland and Romania, both bordering Ukraine, have become key hubs for supplying weapons and delivering humanitarian aid to support Kyiv. Both capitals are now aiming to lead Europe’s drone supply by using the EU defense program SAFE, which provides loans to fund defense industrial production. Poland has inaugurated the Center for Autonomous Systems near Warsaw to speed research and production of unmanned aircraft. The PLargonia model is intended as a Polish equivalent to the Shahed-type kamikaze drones used against Ukraine. The project is coordinated by the army and the state defense consortium PGZ, alongside civilian research institutes, with an emphasis on completing the design and starting production soon.

"Poland and Romania have set out to revitalize their arms industries. Russia's offensive in Ukraine has upended plans across the European Union which has launched an 800 billion rearmament process and has especially affected these two Eastern European countries, each of which shares hundreds of miles of border with the invaded state. Since the conflict began a little over four years ago, Warsaw and Bucharest have become central hubs for supplying weapons and delivering humanitarian aid to support Kyiv in its struggle to defend its sovereignty."

"Now both capitals have taken a further step: they want to position themselves as Europe's leading drone suppliers by taking advantage of the EU defense program SAFE (Security Assistance for Europe), launched by Brussels. SAFE is a financial instrument intended to provide up to 150 billion in loans to back countries that want to invest in defense industrial production."

"At the end of March, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz inaugurated the Center for Autonomous Systems (OSA, in Polish) as part of a project to speed up research and production of unmanned aircraft. Specifically, the PLargonia model is being billed as the Polish Shahed, an allusion to the kamikaze drones originally produced in Iran and now being mass-produced by Russia under the name Geran for use against Ukraine."

"The immediate priority is to finish the PLargonia design a military drone that will soon be operational and in production, Kosiniak-Kamysz said at the time. To accelerate manufacturing, the center, located on the outskirts of Warsaw, is coordinated by the army and the Polish Armaments Group PGZ a state consortium of defense companies as well as several civilian research institutes. The aircraft is lighter than the Shahed, with a range of up to 900 kilometers (560 miles) and a maximum warhead payload of 20 kilograms compared with the Iranian model's 2,400 kilometers (1,490 miles) and 90 kilograms, according"

Read at english.elpais.com