The Defence hotel has been encouraging manufacturers of equipment, distributors and another specialists from the beginning of the year to present solutions to aid build the Shield East. The call met with large interest, but this is not the end of the search for operators willing to cooperate. MON indicated 5 elements that are peculiarly needed to build the Shield.
– We did not think that our initiative would meet with so much interest of producers, suppliers, but besides academic centres – said Brig. Gen. Marcin Górka, manager of the MON Innovation Department in March. The Ministry of Defence received over 200 proposals concerning, among others, solutions from sensors and effectors, unmanned systems or communications. Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Defence presented a short list of the most urgent needs, on which they included: shooting ditch digging machines (the alleged training machine), distant mine drone swarms, folding bridges with spans of more than 45 m, mobile bridges with a width of approx. 40 m, prefabricated reinforced concrete and their components.
Suppliers and producers specialising in these areas may apply for contracts in defence department units, while at the same time MON constantly encourages further proposals that can contribute to the construction of Eastern Shields. According to the Ministry, proposals for innovative solutions submitted so far are being analysed in item by teams of military experts in the areas of work identified.
MON reserves the right to contact selected tenderers. If the proposals meet the circumstantial criteria of the programme, the producers indicated by the Ministry will be invited to proceed to cooperate. The first step involves agreeing the conditions for safety investigating of the solutions submitted and then investigating them under operational conditions.
Shields East is the largest operation since the Second planet War to strengthen the east and partially northern borders of Poland, which assumes the construction of fortifications and the usage of natural field obstacles in key voivodships: Pomeranian, Warmian-Masurian, Lublin, Podlaskie, Podkarpackie and Mazowiecie (total of about 700 km). The main nonsubjective of the programme is to address possible threats from Belarus and Russia. Innovative technologies play a crucial function in this process, so MON is committed to working with partners, in peculiar European economical Area countries and NATO, with advanced method solutions.
First section of security was commissioned in November 2024. The full construction is to last until 2028, and its estimated cost is about PLN 10 billion.
