Poland confirms the supply of Piorun GROM-M MANPADS air defense missile systems to Ukraine.

According to a Tweet published by the Polish Minister of Defense on February 1, 2022, the Polish government has adopted a resolution to provide local-made Piorun GROM-M MANPADS man-portable air defense missile systems to Ukraine following the tensions with Russia.
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Piorun GROM-M Polish-made MANPADS man-portable air defense missile system. (Picture source Army Recognition)

During a press conference that was held on February 1, 2022, President of Poland Andrzej Sebastian said, Poland will provide Ukraine with “any help” to supply the country with humanitarian and military needs.

On 30 November 2021, Russian President Putin stated that an expansion of NATO's presence in Ukraine, especially the deployment of any long-range missiles capable of striking Russian cities or missile defense systems similar to those in Romania and Poland, would be a "red line" issue for Russia.

Recently, Balt, European countries, and the United States have delivered weapons and military equipment following the possibility of an invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Ukraine is not a member of NATO, but the country joins NATO’s North Atlantic Cooperation Council as a partner country in 1991 and the Partnership for Peace program in 1994. In June 2020 Ukraine was offered Enhanced Opportunity Partner status with NATO. This status provides Ukraine with preferential access to NATO’s exercises, training and exchange of information and situational awareness, in order to increase interoperability.

In response to recent events with Russia the NATO Secretary General stated on 1 December 2021, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and members are ready to strengthen the defense capabilities of Ukraine against all forms of aggression.

Citing information published by "The New York Times" on January 7, 2021, Russia currently has about 100,000 troops on the Ukraine border, according to Ukrainian and Western officials. U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that the Kremlin has drawn up plans for a military operation involving up to 175,000 troops that could begin in the coming weeks.

As a member of NATO, Poland wants to show its support to Ukraine by supplying military equipment and weapons including Piorun GROM-M MANPADS man-portable air defense missile systems. Polish–Ukrainian relations as international relations were revived soon after Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

The Piorun GROM-M is a MANPADS Man-portable air-defense systems fully designed and developed in Poland by the Company MESKO. The Piorun system including the launch unit and the missile has a total weight of 16.5 kg. The design is based on the Soviet-made 9K38 Igla (SA-18 Grail).

The Piorun MANPADS is designed to destroy aerial targets such as low-flying aircraft, airplanes, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles. It uses a new short-range missile including a new warhead that can hit a flying target at a distance from 400 m to 6 km and from an altitude of 10 m minimum to 4 km maximum.