2024-12-18 14:45 update: 2024-12-18, 14:50
Photo: PAP/Albert Zawada
Poland is the first country in the world to achieve initial operational readiness of the US-made Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS), Mark Brzezinski, the US ambassador to Poland, has said.
On Wednesday, Brzezinski accompanied Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz on a visit to an air-defence missile brigade in Sochaczew, west of Warsaw, where they observed a training exercise that employed the US-made Patriot air defence system.
"Poland is the first country in the world to achieve initial operational readiness of the Integrated Battle Command System, or IBCS," Brzezinski said. "This is a technology that changes the rules of the game. Even the US Army is just starting to use this technology."
Developed by the US defence company Northrop Grumman, the IBCS is a system comprising a network of sensors, such as radars, that feed information to any available weapon in order to shoot down enemy missiles or planes.
Brzezinski called the system a key element in the modernisation strategy of the US Army, in terms of anti-aircraft and anti-missile defence.
He also said the US and Poland would together protect the skies over Central Europe, including Poland.
"Today we're making yet another important step in these special Polish-American relations, in our friendship," he said, calling the implementation of the system by the Polish armed forces "a historical achievement."
In September 2023, the US State Department agreed to the sale of the IBCS to Poland, including 93 Engagement Operation Centres and 175 elements of the Integrated Fire Control Network.
Poland has been developing a three-layer air defence system that will be able to shoot down targets at distances ranging from a few to 150 kilometres. The Wisla component, comprising the Patriot missiles, is designed as the mid-range component of up to 150 kilometres, the short-range Narew will cover distances of up to 25 kilometres and the very short-range Pilica will target incoming enemy projectiles, drones or aircraft within a several-kilometre range. (PAP)
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