Thales details Polish Patrol Vessel contract

Thales will supply an integrated combat system for the ORP ŚLĄZAK Patrol Vessel being built for the Polish defence force. The company announced a contract with the Polish Ministry of Defence for the work on 14 March.

The contract will see Thales deliver main combat system components such as the TACTICOS Combat Management System, SMART-S Mk2 surveillance radar, STING-EO Mk2 (currently named the STIR 1.2 EO Mk2) fire control radar, MIRADOR electro-optical observation and fire control system and LINK 11/16 tactical data link system.

A spokesperson told Shephard that although the contract values could not be released the installation of the systems on board the Slazak vessel will be performed at Naval Shipyard Gydnia premises. 'Extended integration and test activities are scheduled prior to hand-over of the entire vessel to the Polish Navy.'

The original competitive tender was released to European industry including Saab, BAE Systems, Selex and Kongsberg.

 The company is also responsible for the combat system integration related to other systems to be installed on board the vessel, such as weapons, communication and navigation systems, as well as several third party-supplied sensors.

'Thales NL wil continue to follow the Polish naval market and successful implementation of the combat system for the Slazak Patrol Vessel may give rise to future follow-on contracts,' the spokesperson added.

Gerben Edelijn, CEO, Thales Nederland, said: ‘We won this contract because of our state of the art technical solution which perfectly matched the customer’s requirements. Taking the fierce international competition into account, this contract proves our position as no. 1 worldwide in naval mission systems.’

According to the company, the systems will be fully operational on the ORP ŚLĄZAK Patrol Vessel - the successor of the GAWRON multipurpose corvette programme - in 2016. Thales will work with a number of organisations in Poland for transfer of knowledge and technology concerning maintenance, training of Combat Information Centre staff and software development.