Poland Seeks Heavy IFV To Compliment Badger Program

The Polish Infantry Fighting Vehicle Badger was set to conclude its trials within the next few months, but the Polish Ministry of Defense has announced that they will be ordering four more prototypes for further evaluations. In recent weeks there have been some signals from the Ministry that the vehicle is not going to fulfil all of the roles that it will be assigned and may need to be augmented. The original requirements set by the ministry and military in the mid-2010s crippled constructors, mainly through the requirement of amphibious capabilities. The conflict in Ukraine has added fresh impetus for the Polish Army to procure a substantial number of capable IFVs.

There is some speculation around the potential choice of a new up-armoured IFV by the Polish Ministry of Defense. Lt. Col. Krzysztof Płatek, spokesman for Poland’s Armaments Agency, tweeted that the Polish armed forces are looking for a readily available IFV which would fill the gap between the procurement and full operational deployment of the Badger, noting that “even 100 copies [vehicles] a year declared by the industry is 10 years of generational replacement of equipment.” He continued, “I am not depreciating Huta [Badger’s manufacturers], but the Borsuk [Badger] IFV will not be a mature construction right away.” This is where Poland’s ties to the Republic of Korea may enter into the equation. There has been some suggestion that a rekindled Polish-South Korean relationship could see the Poles purchase a South Korean K21-based IFV. The Australian variant, AS21 ‘Redback’ is also often mentioned.

On 7 June, Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak confirmed that “after the in-house examinations, the qualifying examinations will begin in a month’s time. We have ordered 4 additional prototypes to improve Badger and use the opinions of the soldiers to build it.” A week earlier, on 30 May, Blaszczak also confirmed the need for a complimentary IFV as he met with Korean representatives of Hanwha Defense and tweeted about meeting for talks about the accelerated procurement of Korean self-propelled howitzers and IFVs. 

Zamówienie Borsuka to jeden z priorytetów MON. Po badaniach zakładowych, za miesiąc zaczyną się badania kwalifikacyjne. Zamówiliśmy 4 dodatkowe prototypy, aby udoskonalać Borsuka i wykorzystywać opinie żołnierzy przy jego budowie. pic.twitter.com/koUyLdExm4

— Mariusz Błaszczak (@mblaszczak) June 7, 2022