Rohde & Schwarz to Supply ESM Suite for New Polish Frigates

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By Richard Scott

PGZ Stocznia Wojenna shipyard (Gdynia, Poland) has contracted Rohde & Schwarz (Munich, Germany) to provide an integrated communications-band/radar-band electronic support measures (ESM) suite for the Polish Navy’s new Miecznik frigates.

Designed to recapitalize the surface combatant arm of the Polish fleet, the Miecznik program covers the build, integration and delivery of three multi-mission frigates based on Babcock’s Arrowhead 140 design. The lead ship, ORP Wicher, is planned for launch in 2026.

According to PGZ Stocznia Wojenna, Rohde & Schwarz will equip the Miecznik frigates with a communications-band/radar-band ESM based on the R&S KORA system already in service on the German Navy’s F 125 frigates (KORA 18) and selected for the service’s new F 126 frigates (KORA 40). R&S KORA is described by Rohde & Schwarz as a highly sensitive intercept and analysis system able to detect, identify and track complex radar emissions, as well as communications transmissions, at long range.

Alongside its scope of supply for the ship system, PGZ Stocznia Wojenna and Rohde & Schwarz are to establish an electronic warfare (EW) and signals intelligence (SIGINT) academy at the PGZ Stocznia Wojenna shipyard. This facility, based on Rohde & Schwarz’s software simulator, will serve as Poland’s primary training base for naval EW and SIGINT operators and maintainers.

PGZ Stocznia Wojenna in March this year signed a contract with Terma for the delivery of the latter’s C-Guard  soft-kill decoy system to equip the Miecznik frigates. C-Guard fires NATO standard 130-mm decoy rounds.

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