A political controversy has erupted in Poland over orders for MSBS Grot carbines for the army.
On Monday, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (PiS) candidate for prime minister Przemysław Czarnek called on the government to immediately sign new contracts with the Łucznik factory in Radom to prevent a crisis at the plant, reports Defence24.
The reason for the opposition politician’s visit to Radom was information about possible layoffs due to a lack of new orders from the Armaments Agency. Despite significant investments in modernization and the expansion of production capacity in previous years, the factory currently has no guaranteed long-term plan for utilizing its production lines.
“To survive, Łucznik needs orders for 40,000 Grot carbines per year. Why haven’t orders been placed from the 20 billion remaining for 2024 and 2025? Why aren’t Polish companies and Polish industry being involved?” Przemysław Czarnek said.
Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski responded to accusations about funding delays and the SAFE program on his X page. The foreign minister engaged in a discussion with Czarnek, rejecting the opposition’s criticism of the government’s defense-sector policy.
The arms factory in Radom is part of Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa (PGZ) and has a long tradition of manufacturing small arms. The company’s flagship project is the Grot carbines, which are gradually replacing the older Beryl models in the Polish Armed Forces.
Since 2017, the Polish military has ordered over 250,000 of these carbines, of which the manufacturer has already delivered over 170,000 units to the customer.
