The Narew program rules. The first rockets from Zielonka will be built in 2028

By 2028, a Service and Production Center for CAMM-ER missiles and a production hall for Command Cabins for air defense systems will be built at the Military Electronic Works in Zielonka, a company that is part of the Polish Armaments Group. The cost of this investment is one billion zlotys.

The rockets will be produced for the Narew program, on which Poland will ultimately spend a record PLN 100 billion. For comparison, the purchase of 48 F-16 fighters in 2003 cost us only PLN 14 billion, and 32 F-35A fighters in 2020 – about PLN 17.8 billion. With the Narew air defense program, these were minor expenses!

Memorable September 2025 – Russian drones over Poland

On the night of September 9-10, 2025, an unprecedented incident occurred in which 19 Russian drones violated Polish airspace while flying from Belarus. Drone remains were found in several locations in the Lublin, Świętokrzyskie, Masovian, Łódź and Warmian-Masurian Voivodeships. One object damaged a house in Wyryki.

The military picked up combat planes. Poland also launched allied procedures, and military aviation patrolled the airspace from night to morning. It was the first time in history when the Polish Air Force used weapons to shoot down objects in the country’s airspace. Experts assessed that it was an act of aggression and testing the reaction time of the Polish air defense system and NATO.

Drones were searched for a long time, it was not known how many of them there were – once there were 19, once 21 machines. It was not known whether they were armed. Prime Minister Donald Tusk ironized that the Russians did not inform us how many drones actually violated Polish airspace.

He explained that civilian drones are also widely used and may be confused with Russian objects. He clearly emphasized that the Polish army must change “traditional thinking, symbolized by tanks, helicopters and fighters, to thinking more adequate to the modern theater of war, where we are dealing with so-called autonomous devices.” – It will take some time until we move this great armament and modernization machine of the Polish army – he added.

Narew will fill a large gap in Poland’s defense

The Russians caught us at an inconvenient moment. The assumptions of the short-range air defense system, i.e. the Narew program, were created at the turn of 2014 and 2015. In 2019, they were officially recognized as the second most important modernization priority, but the key framework agreement for the supply of equipment was signed only in September 2021.

Over a thousand CAMM-ER missiles and 138 rocket launchers were ordered. Technology transfer was also contracted, ensuring the production of both missiles and launchers in Poland, as well as a wide training and logistics package. The contracts provide for the delivery of elements of Narew battery sets from 2027 to 2035. It is already known where they will be assembled – in Zielonka.

The main task of Narew is to fill the strategic gap between very short-range systems, such as Pilica, and the powerful Wisła based on American Patriots. It is short-range missiles that will protect critical infrastructure, troop concentrations and the largest Polish cities against planes, swarms of drones and cruise missiles.

The PGZ-NAREW Consortium includes: Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa SA (consortium leader), Huta Stalowa Wola SA, Jelcz sp. z o. o., MESKO SA, Ośrodek Badawowo Rozwojowy Centrum Techniki Mariskiej SA, PCO SA, PIT-Radwar SA, Wojskowe Zakłady Głosności No. 1 SA, Wojskowe Zakłady Ubezpieczenia SA, Wojskowe Zakłady Elektroniczne SA and Zakłady Mechaniczne Tarnów SA