Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1281650
APC in Polish Armed Forces T he genesis of the Rosomak development dates back to the 1990s, and to the period when Poland was joining NATO. This is when the most crucial decisions were made (and were not made), that had a relevant impact on the Rosomak pro- gram. The original plans made in 1998 assumed that 120 brand-new wheeled APCs would be procured. Then, the requirement has been extended - 410 vehicles were to be acquired, most of which were to be fitted with a gun within caliber range between 20 and 30 mm. The turret was also to be integrated with an ATGM launcher. As Poland became a NATO member, the requirement above evolved, so that the al- lied quick reaction force component requirements would have been met. In 2000, the necessity to equip the NATO response force units with APCs formally became a part of the agenda. The program has received the KTO designation, referring pri- marily to the program, not the vehicle form factor itself [KTO - pol. Kołowy Transporter Opancerzony, eng. Wheeled Armo- ured Personnel Carrier]. Noteworthy, according to the defi- nitional framework adopted by Poland (and international or- ganizations such as OSCE), the vehicle's traction does not determine the platform class and it is not a factor that diffe- rentiates APCs and IFVs. The presence of a rotating turret with an automatic gun with a caliber above 14.5 mm and below 60 mm is what is defining the given vehicle as an IFV. Conside- ring the aforesaid conditions, KTO Rosomak with a Hitfist-30P turret is not a wheeled APC. De iure, it is a wheeled IFV. Howe- ver, the chaos in the domain of military terminology made the name of the development program - KTO [APC] - stick around, and it is still associated with the Rosomak platform in the Po- lish terminology. That matter has influenced the program - not only within the scope of the pure semantics. Even though the leading NATO nations divide its land forces elements into heavy units (armored-mechanized), medium elements (wheeled platforms) and light ones (air-mobile units), the cen- tral nexus of this division has not been present in the Polish military. Elements as such were just an idea planted in the minds of the planners, who were thinking about the potential deployments. As a result, the program aimed at the recon- struction of the Polish military between 2001 and 2006 inc- luded a requirement to procure 216 wheeled vehicles, inclu- ding 120 wheeled IFVs. The remaining 96 vehicles were to come in specialized variants. This was to allow for re-equip- ping of 3 battalions, 40 IFVs each, plus support platforms. The whole process was to make it possible to rearm a single three-battalion brigade. This unit was expected to be equip- ped with the allied operations around the globe in mind. The aforesaid fact is worth to be remembered as a reference po- int, needed to comprehend the program's timeline. I n August 2001, the relevant wheeled APC [KTO] procurement/ tendering process began. Initially, it involved 5 domestic entities. The bids were ultimately placed by 3 of them, each of the bidders has been offering a different design by a foreign manufacturer. The offers differed with regards to turrets and hulls. OBRUM/ Bumar consortium was offering the GM/MOWAG AG Piranha IIIC platform. It was tested with the Rheinmetall KUKA E9 turret with a 30 mm gun. Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG Pandur II with Steyr SP30 (30 mm cannon) was another offer. It was submitted by HSW S.A. The last vehicle was the AMV XC-360 prototype developed by the Finnish Patria and offered by the WZM S.A. The Patria vehicle was offered with two turrets: Delco Defence (25 mm cannon), and Ot- tobreda Hitfist-25 (25 mm gun as well). None of the turrets offe- red at the time were integrated with an ATGM launcher. The mili- tary was still to select a new ATGM, within the framework of a separate procurement procedure. Between late 2001 and April 2003, major adjustments have been made when it comes to the user requirements. Those adjustments had a significant impact on the pro- gram as a whole. First, the Polish military quic- kly defined the requirement for the turret to have a two-man crew and a 30 mm dual-feed automatic gun. This would entail greater firepower, but also a weight and price increase. The requirement to carry an 8-man infantry squad and retain amphibious capabilities also stood strong. At the same time, a requirement for the vehicle to be C-130 transportable was also added. As a result of all of the aforesaid requirements, the armor had to be weaker, with light alloys used in the case of the turret as well. At the same time, the IED/mine protection requirements were quite strict. The mix of requirements above created a necessity to be flexible, and that flexibility was demanded by the military - on one hand, everybody remembered the BMP-2's firepower and mobility. On the other hand, the foreign deployments forced the military to acquire a vehicle that could be transported by C-130, also offering ROSOMAK www.fragoutmag.com