At the end of September, the head of the Ministry of Defense appointed a special team to prepare a recommendation for the government regarding the selection of a supplier of submarines for Poland under the Orka program.
The Council of Ministers is to discuss the matter at its meeting on Wednesday. This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, who also informed that the team's recommendation was already ready. It is not binding on the government, although it is difficult to imagine that politicians will make a different decision that will be in opposition to what the task force reached.
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The head of the Ministry of National Defense indicated that we should know the name of the entity this weekand November 28 is Navy Day. The decision to select a partner in the Orka program is to be of an intergovernmental and strategic nature. Bidders from six countries are competing for the contract worth at least several billion zlotys.
According to Business Insider Polska sources, there are many indications that Poland may choose A26 Blekinge ships. These units are built at the Swedish shipyard Saab Kockums in Karlskrona. The Scandinavian offer also has political support from Great Britain.
Our sources, however, did not want to definitively confirm that such a decision would be made at Wednesday's meeting of the Council of Ministers.
In addition to the Swedes, the German company ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, the Italian Fincantieri, the French Naval Group, the Spanish from Navanti and Hanwha Ocean from South Korea are competing for a gigantic contract for the Navy.
The Baltic Sea and military and economic cooperation
Recently, the “Rzeczpospolita” daily pointed out that choosing Saab's offer would be a natural confirmation of our greater involvement in the Baltic area, but delays in the construction of ships for the Swedish Navy may be a problem.
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However, the head of the Ministry of Defense, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, strongly emphasizes the importance of military and economic cooperation between the countries of the Baltic Sea basin.
In June this year, inspired by the Ministry of National Defense, the so-called Baltic Declaration. This is a document devoted to the security of the Baltic Sea and regarding military and strategic cooperation in the region. The signatories are the defense ministers of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden. Last week, at the conference in Słupsk, Norway joined the initiative.
“The security of the Baltic Sea, the security of the water area that is the internal sea of the North Atlantic Alliance, with one dangerous exception – the Russian Federation – is crucial. It is the protection of communication routes, critical infrastructure, wind farms. […] We see danger in the Baltic Sea every day. This includes cutting cables running on its bottom, threats to critical infrastructure, disturbing GPS, impeding the movement of vessels or aircraft, surveillance, and violating airspace. There is no NATO country whose airspace has not been violated by Russia in the Baltic area – either with drones or planes. This shows what dangerous times we live in and how we need to build a new security architecture for the Baltic Sea” – said Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz then.
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The head of the Ministry of National Defense, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, during the conference in Słupsk, where Norway signed the Baltic Declaration
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LUKASZ CAPAR POLSKA PRESS/Polska Press/East News / East News
The Polish Ministry of Defense's move towards Baltic cooperation is clear, which would justify the choice of a Swedish ship supplier.
To confirm this, some of our interlocutors point out that during the conference in Słupsk, advisor to the head of the Ministry of National Defence, Maciej Samsonowicz, also presented the Baltic Sea as a macroregion of military and economic cooperation among the countries that signed the Baltic Declaration.
The concept is based on the so-called Green Industrial District “Kaszubia”, where the Norwegian concern Kongsberg has just announced its investment, which wants to leave PLN 200-250 million in Poland.
According to the assumptions of the Ministry of Defense, the Green Industrial District is a synergy of defense and economy. Investments necessary for the army, such as ports, roads, railway and aviation infrastructure and energy, are also to become the foundation of the development program driving GDP growth.
The Orka program will replace ORP “Orzeł”
Plans to add new submarines to the Navy are almost two decades old. Today, the 40-year-old ORP “Orzeł” is in service. This is a well-used unit that was built at the Soviet shipyard Krasnoye Sormovo in Gorki. ORP “Orzeł” entered the Gdynia Naval Port in June 1986 and is today one of the oldest ships of this type in the world and the only submarine operated by our Navy.
Author: Bartek Godusławski, journalist of Business Insider Polska
