Estonia receives Piorun MANPADS

Poland’s MESKO has completed delivery of Piorun short-range man-portable air-defence systems (MANPADS) to Estonia fulfilling a deal signed in September 2022.

At the time of the Estonian contract signature it was announced that it was for 300 missiles and 100 launchers.

Piorun, described as a ‘deep modernisation’ of Mesko’s PZR Grom MANPADS, has been in Polish service since 1995. Poland signed a contract US$220 million contract for 1,300 missiles and 420 launchers in 2016 to be delivered in 2017–22 (later delayed to 2023).

On 23 June 2022, Poland announced it had increased its Piorun requirement to 3,500 missiles and 600 launchers.

The system has also been in use in Ukraine where, according to the company, ‘it has proven its reliability [and has been a] successful weapon systems in the Ukrainian war’.

The company has developed Piorun+ with an increased range of 10,000m (3,500m more than the baseline missile) and a higher maximum effective altitude. It would also include upgraded detection and guidance system with an improved target detection capability and better resistance to active and passive jamming.

The next step will be the Piorun 2 missile, which was still in development as of mid-2022, potentially resulting in a vehicle- or soldier-launched missile with a range of 15km.