Frag Out! Magazine

Frag Out! Magazine #36

Frag Out! Magazine

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More and more official and unofficial information are made available when it comes to the biggest modernization program pursued by the Polish Navy - codenamed „Miecznik" (Swordfish). Even though this is just the beginning of a long road, which is to end with the commissioning of three new frigates, one can, and should, pay attention to this modernization program that entails a price tag of at least PLN 8 billion. BEFORE MIECZNIK The vessels procured within the framework of the Miecznik pro- gram are to belong to a type of modern, multi-role frigates. This type of vessel is the backbone of the surface combatant poten- tial in contemporary navies. Capabilities as such were obtained by the Polish Navy, thanks to two, second-hand US Navy Oliver Hazard Perry-class vessels. They were commissioned between 2000 and 2002, under the names ORP „Gen. K. Pułaski" and ORP „Gen. T. Kościuszko". Back in 2003, when the ORP „Warszawa" was decommissioned, the aforesaid two vessels became the lar- gest surface combatants of the Polish Navy, also becoming the backbone of its potential. The original plans assumed that this state would be short-lived. The adoption of second-hand vessels from the US was only expected to be temporary, until entirely new, modern warships are manufactured locally. These were to be smaller, both in comparison to ORP Warszawa, as well as the ex-US frigates. This refers to Project 621 missile corvettes. The genesis of these dates back to the 1990s when the planners in the Navy decided that corvettes would be the backbone of the Polish Navy's potential. This decision was followed by the design works at the Polish Navy's Shipyard (Stocznia Marynarki Wojen- nej, SMW). The said vessels were to be based on Blohm und Voss MEKO A-100 design, tailored to meet the specific Polish require- ments. On November 27th, 2001 an agreement was signed, by and between the SMW and the Polish Navy Command, on the acquisition of the first vessel, with optional further procurement expected. The next day, the keel-laying ceremony took place, for what was to become the first 621 vessel - the ORP „Ślązak". Currently, we know that this event has been a beginning of an 18-years long saga, ultimately finalized with the commissioning of an „only child", the ORP „Ślązak". The build was finalized with several cuts, and the vessel is euphemistically referred to as a „Patrol Corvette". Realistically, it should be perceived as a patrol vessel with some retrofitting potential - for advanced armament - in the future. The reason why the Gawron program ended like it ended stem- med from the underestimation of the cost of the prototyping process, combined with seriously insufficient financing. These two matters led to a spiraling cost increase and spending cuts, regarding the Gawron corvette. That was not enough. In 2009 the financial crisis created a necessity to find further savings. As a result of that, the financing of the Gawron program has been shut almost entirely, while further work was continued, without extra spending (sic!). Out of four possible resolutions of these fa- tal circumstances - the cancellation of build and moving the hull to a scrapyard, selling the hull, finishing the hull with less capabi- lity, or continuation of corvette build, the third way was chosen. NAVY

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