Army of Poland takes delivery of 9 more POPRAD short-range air defense missile systems.

According to information published on the Twitter account of Mariusz Błaszczak, Polish Defense Minister on December 15, 2021, The Polish army has taken delivery of 9 additional POPRAD anti-aircraft air defense missile systems.
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Polish army Poprad missile battery with the missile launcher unit and the Sola radar vehicle. (Picture source Army Recognition)

The Armament Inspectorate of the Polish Ministry of National Defense (MND) started negotiation with PIT-RADWAR to purchase Poprad missile systems, as part of the Polish Armed Forces’ Technical Modernization Plan for the period from 2013 to 2022, in August 2015. An agreement worth PLN1.08bn ($278.7m) was signed in December 2015 for the delivery of 79 Poprad anti-aircraft rocket kits between 2018 and 2021.

With the delivery of these last 7 Proprad vehicles, the Polish army is finalizing the order for the 79 units of the contract signed in 2015.

A battery of POPRAD anti-aircraft missile system includes the launcher vehicle with four ready to fire GROM missiles and the MMSR SOLA Mobile Multibeam Search 3D Radar vehicle.

The Poprad is a self-propelled anti-aircraft missile system developed by PIT-RADWAR (formerly Bumar Elektronika) to provide the armed forces with short-range air defense capability. The Poprad missile launcher unit is based on the Zubr 4x4 armored light truck chassis designed and manufactured by the Polish company AMZ.

The Poprad launcher unit is fitted with four GROM missiles ready to fire. In road position, the launch station is lowered at the rear side of the vehicle and protected by armor plates. the GROM missile can be also replaced by the Piorun GROM-M MANPADS missile. The Grom missile can hit a target at a range from 500 to 5,500 m with an altitude from 10 to 3,500 m. Eight additional missiles are stored inside the vehicle.

The SOLA radar system is also mounted on the Zubr 4x4 light armored vehicle. The Solar radar is a multifunctional three-dimensional radar (3 D) radar designed to detect and track aerial targets for the Poprad missile launcher unit which is used as SHORAD (SHOrt Range Air Defense) and VSHORAD (Very Short Range Air Defense).

The SOLA radar vehicle has a crew of two and can be deployed in less than five minutes. The radar can detect targets on 360° with a range detection of 40 km maximum for fighter aircraft and 8 km for helicopters.