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Tuesday 7 August 2012

Polish army plans to acquire 1,000 new main battle tanks and tested the new Polish tank Anders.

The Polish Army plans to acquire up to 1,000 new tanks in different variants, reported local daily Rzeczpospolita. It is expected that Poland’s Ministry of Defense will sign a deal to launch production of the Anders, the tank prototype developed by Bumar Group’s OBRUM Gliwice research unit, according to the Polish newspaper.

“The order will be placed with the Polish defense industry, but to boost the design and production phase, it will be vital to cooperate with top foreign defense manufacturers,” said retired . Gen. Waldemar Skrzypczak, Poland’s deputy defense minister responsible for the armed forces’ modernization.
The Polish tank program is part of a plan to overhaul the country’s land forces. In January, Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said that “launching a national tank program as part of efforts to increase the [land forces’] mobility” is one of the Army’s key modernization priorities.

The amount of the planned purchase was not disclosed by the deputy defense minister.
As earlier reported, the prototype is a 32- to 40-ton vehicle, depending on the configuration. The light tank carries a 120mm gun by Swiss group Ruag, and it can carry a crew of three to seven. The Anders was fitted with a 530-kilowatt engine produced by Germany’s MTU Friedrichshafen, which enables a maximum speed capacity of 50 mph. Its turret was equipped with a Trophy active protection system made by Israel’s Rafael.
The Polish military plans to begin testing the Anders within two years, Skrzypczak said.

The Polish-made main battle tank Anders was presented for the first time at the Defence Exhibition in Paris, Eurosatory 2012. The Anders was equipped with a Belgian CMI Defence turret CT-CV. The CT-CV turret has been developed by CMI Defence as a private venture and is armed with a stabilised 105mm rifled gun. It is coupled to a computerised day/night fire control system and a bustle mounted automatic loader. A 7.62mm machine gun is mounted coaxial with the main armament.

The main armament can also firing the anti-tank guided missile Falarick which has a maximum firing range of 5,000 m.

 Asian Defence News

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