MEADS, Polish State-Owned Firm to Explore Air Defense Cooperation; Tom Oles Comments

MEADS International and Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa, a state-owned defense firm in Poland, have agreed to explore cooperation and business opportunities related to the Wisła medium-range air defense program.

The two companies inked a letter of intent to allow PGZ a participation in the expansion and sales of the Medium Extended Air Defense System in partnership with Lockheed Martin and MBDA, MEADS said Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Lockheed also agreed to involve PGZ in various defense and security projects under a letter of intent inked at the International Defense Industry Exhibition in Kielce, Poland.

Poland’s industry and institutes will perform more than 50 percent of work related to system engineering and integration, radar technology, PAC-3 missile co-production, production of transceiver semiconductor module assemblies and microwave monolithic integrated circuits, testing of an active radar homing seeker and manufacture of a medium-range interceptor for Wisła.

“We are honored and pleased to join with Poland’s leading defense company to offer the proven MEADS air and missile defense system in Poland,” said Tom Oles, MEADS vice president.

MEADS is the result of a partnership of Germany, Italy and the U.S. to design, develop and build air and missile defense weapon system.

Poland aims to fine tune the system’s elements to fit the nation’s requirements through the Wisła program.

Lockheed and MBDA’s in Italian and German businesses are the joint venture partners for MEADS.