Georgia To Procure Man-Portable Air Defense Systems From Poland
The Georgian Ministry of Defense has signed a contract with the Polish defense company Mesko SA for the procurement of Polish-made man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS). The agreement was made official on January 12, during a meeting between Georgian Deputy Minister of Defense Giorgi Khandrava and MESKO representatives in the capital, Tbilisi. The Georgian Ministry of Defense did not disclose details about the order’s quantity, cost, which MANPADS model it included, or expected delivery date in its statement. However, this agreement is most likely concerning Piorun systems.
MESKO SA, located in Skarżysko-Kamienna in the south of central Poland, is part of the Polish Armaments Group (PGZ), established by the Polish government to unite the country’s state-owned defense companies. The company’s portfolio includes portable air defense systems such as Grom and Piorun, which is an improved version of Grom.
The Grom (Thunder), which was first unveiled in the mid-1990s, is an upgrade to the Soviet-made 9K38 Igla. This system, designed to eliminate visually observed aerial targets such as low-flying helicopters, aircraft, and other threats emitting infrared radiation, is currently in use by the Georgian Land Forces. Georgia purchased Grom systems in 2007, and the order for 30 launchers and 100 missiles was delivered to the country in 2008. These systems were actively used during the Russian-Georgian War (South Ossetia) that same year. According to open sources, Georgian forces targeted Russian aircraft and helicopters 20 times with Grom systems, firing a total of 12 missiles, 9 of which successfully hit their targets.
Aside from Georgia, Grom systems are used in Poland, Indonesia, and Lithuania. The manufacturer will cease mass production of these systems after completing the additional Grom order placed by Lithuania last year.
The Piorun system, which Georgia is a potential customer for, is a modernized version of Grom. Since 2019, this system, first unveiled in 2015, has been procured by the Polish Armed Forces, Norway, Slovakia, Latvia, Estonia, and the United States. The Piorun systems were also among the first modern Western air defense systems delivered to Ukraine.
The PIORUN portable air defense system, which is meant to neutralize aircraft, helicopters, UAVs, and winged rockets, has a length of 1.56 meters and a full load weight of 16.5 kilograms. The missile employed in the PIORUN system has a 72mm diameter, a 10.5 kg weight, and a high-explosive fragmentation warhead. The system utilizes passive infrared guidance with an argon-cooled seeker and is supplemented by a day/night optical sight installed on the launcher. Aside from these, PIORUN also comes with an authorization system that provides capabilities such as tracking-engagement mode selection, target type identification, weather condition evaluation, friend-foe identification and uninterrupted communication with optical and thermal imaging sights.