Polish Minister of Defense approves purchase contract for 22 more Bystra air defense radars.

Polish Minister of Defense, Mariusz Błaszczak, approved the executive contract for the delivery of another 22 Bystra mobile air defense radars. ‘’We are building the anti-aircraft and anti-missile capabilities of the Polish Army, we are strengthening them with new layers’’, emphasized Błaszczak. ‘’You need to be aware that what is happening today on the Donbas front has a direct impact on the security of the Polish state’’.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link

The Bystra Redeployable Radar is designed for detecting and localizing air targets at short ranges and for supporting air-defense units that cover tactical battle groups against attacks from the air (Picture source: PGZ)

The contract between the Armament Agency and the PGZ-Pilica+ Consortium concerns the delivery of 22 deployable Bystra radar stations (ZDPSR) for the Pilica+ short- and very short-range anti-aircraft systems, using CAMM missiles. The range of the radar is 80 km.

The head of the Ministry of National Defense pointed out that the document approved by him is another agreement on the acquisition of Bystra radar stations to equip the Polish Army. ‘’ The first approved contract is already being implemented. This year, the first radar stations will equip the Polish Army. This contract (approved on Wednesday) covers another 22 radar stations’’- said Błaszczak.He added that the air defense system consists of several zones: in the lowest one, Piorun missile systems are used; in the higher zone, the Narew system is used. And the next higher "layer" of the air defense system is Patriot systems. Pilica+ will serve to protect the Patriots and complement the lower layers of anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense’’, said the head of the Ministry of National Defense.

The Bystra Redeployable Radar is designed for detecting and localizing air targets at short ranges and for supporting air-defense units that cover tactical battle groups against attacks from the air. Bystra is a multifunction and multi-mission radar with versatile capabilities and various applications, including detection and tracking of typical air threats as combat aircraft and helicopters (also when hovering), as well as missiles, UAVs and mortar shells.

The radar can operate in several modes matched to predefined combat missions. In each mode, an omnidirectional search is performed by rotating the antenna and by scanning space using software-formed antenna beams. This enables the effective use of the radar resources and allows for adjusting search patterns to the characteristics of a deployment site and to the accomplished function (detection/tracking) or the combat mission.

Bystra mobile air defense radar (Picture source: PGZ)

Defense News March 2023