Poland Moves to Seal Eastern Airspace with New Counter-Drone Shield

Poland has signed contracts for a new counter-drone air defence system as Warsaw moves to close gaps exposed by unmanned aerial vehicle incursions along NATO’s eastern edge.

The agreements were signed on January 30 at PIT-Radwar SA’s facility in Kobyłka between the State Treasury–Armaments Agency and a consortium led by Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa, with Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace and Polish firm Advanced Protection Systems involved in delivery. The deal covers 18 battery modules for anti-aircraft systems designed specifically to detect and engage unmanned aerial vehicles.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said the SAN program represents a full defensive architecture rather than a single weapon. “It is an entire system of interconnected systems: effectors, sensors, and mechanisms for dealing with airborne threats – including airborne threats, helicopter threats, and, above all, threats from unmanned aerial vehicles,” he said during the signing ceremony.

Kongsberg announced Poland’s anti-drone contract was worth $1.67 billion, but provided no other details regarding how many units were sold.

According to the Ministry of National Defence, the contract includes 18 anti-drone batteries, 52 fire platoons, 18 command platoons, and 703 vehicles. About 400 vehicles will be built on Jelcz chassis, with roughly 300 based on the Igwan platform. Each battery module will comprise three firing platoons and a support platoon, while every firing platoon will be able to independently detect, track, identify, and engage aerial targets.

Kosiniak-Kamysz pointed to a specific moment that accelerated the program. “The night of September 9–10, 2025, when our airspace was violated, when Russian unmanned aerial vehicles first appeared over NATO territory, was a turning point,” he said.

He added that the SAN system required months of integration work to merge sensors, command elements, and effectors into a single operational network involving Polish and Norwegian industry.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the program reflects Poland’s frontline role in European security. “Poland bears the responsibility, expenses, and organization of protecting the Polish, European, and NATO borders, but we cannot and will not be left alone,” he said, confirming the use of European Union funding, including resources from the SAFE mechanism.

The SAN systems will be integrated into Poland’s wider, multi-layered air and missile defence framework, using kinetic and non-kinetic measures to counter unmanned aerial threats. Deployment will focus primarily on eastern Poland, which borders Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia’s Kaliningrad region.

The contract was signed on behalf of the Armaments Agency by Brigadier General Michał Marciniak, the defence ministry’s plenipotentiary for the integrated air and missile defence system.