WARSAW: Prime Minister Beata Szydło signed a contract for the purchase of 95 self-propelled mortar-carriers on Thursday in Stalowa Wola, south eastern Poland. The so-called RAK vehicles (Crayfish), which will be made by Huta Stalowa Wola (HSW SA), will be supplied to three mechanized battalions stationed in Międzyrzecz, Szczecin and Rzeszów.
The first vehicles are scheduled to be delivered to the armed forces by June 2017, and the entire contract is worth over PLN 968 million [about EUR 220.4 million]. Szydło enthused that the Polish army will be able “to boast high quality equipment manfactured by Polish companies.”
“The aim of the Polish government, as we declared in the election campaign, is to strengthen the Polish economy, so that all Polish citizens benefit from it,” she said. “The economy needs to grow on the basis of Polish potential,” she added. Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz raised eyebrows last week when he announced that the Polish army would increase by at least 50 percent over the next few years.
