Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1365706
and the user had a value of PLN 638 million. It only covered the delivery of a platform, in the form of the hull. However, the Navy failed to provide even that limited amount. For that reason, the shipyard was building the hull alone until the year 2009. Due to the financial crisis, the Polish Ministry of Defence decided to cut the project funds even further. This made it impossible to procure armament for the vessels. Decisions made in the up- coming years led to a complete stoppage of work. This creat- ed circumstances, in which selling the hull at a scrap material market price, or selling it abroad, were both considered viable. Ultimately, a different concept was adopted, leading to the final- ization of the process, but in a different form. Gawron became an OPV, with limited combat capabilities. The agreement cov- ering the continued effort, aimed at commissioning the vessel in that form was signed on September 23rd, 2013. Three years ORP „Ślązak" The history of the ORP Ślązak OPV (originally intended to be a missile corvette) is a perfect metaphor for the status of the Pol- ish Navy. It is a perfect example of how one should not carry out a procurement program. The keel of the Project 621 corvette was laid on November 28th, 2001. The vessel was to be one of seven combatants in the series, as plans that remained in force in 1997 suggested. The assumption was that these corvettes would form the back- bone of the Polish Navy. The ship was being built at the Polish Navy's Shipyard (Stocznia Marynarki Wojennej, SMW) in Gdynia. The facility chose the German MEKO A-100 corvette design as the base platform, acquiring a relevant license as well. According to the estimates, the vessel was to come for PLN 1.5 bn. How- ever, the agreement signed by and between the SMW shipyard NAVY