Pakistan’s Minister of Defence Production visiting Poland to attend MSPO 2017

Pakistan’s Minister of Defence Production (MoDP) Rana Tanveer Hussain is visiting Warsaw to attend the 25^th International Defence Industry Exhibition (MSPO 2017).

Radio Pakistan reports that the MoDP had been invited by Poland’s Minister of National Defence and that he would “meet with delegates of different countries on the sidelines of the exhibition.”

MSPO is Poland’s marquee defence exhibition. Since 2004, it has taken place annually and had seen the participation of Polish as well as other European and American companies. Polish defence systems draw upon both indigenous and collaborative efforts with foreign partners and suppliers.

Marquee Polish defence programs include the Wielozadaniowa Platforma Bojowa (WPB) Anders infantry fighting vehicle and PZL-Świdnik SW-4 lightweight utility helicopter, among others.

Notes & Comments:

While neither country considers the other an active prospect for commercial defence inroads, there have been recent efforts to begin targeted activities.

At Pakistan’s biennial defence exhibition IDEAS 2016, Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) and Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa S.A (PGZ) had signed a memorandum-of-understanding (MoU).

PGZ is a holding company comprising of 60 Polish defence industry enterprises, among them the firearms makers Fabryka Broni (FB) Radom and Zakłady Mechaniczne Tarnów (ZMT) S.A. Should POF pursue original product development, FB Radom and ZMT could be possible avenues for technical and design support.

In fact, besides small arms, ZMT also produces coaxial machine guns and remote-control weapon stations. Be it main battle tanks (MBT), light armoured vehicles or even certain naval or maritime vessels, these are systems that are and will remain in demand in Pakistan.

Otherwise, MSPO 2017 will also see the participation of other prospective suppliers, such as Ukraine’s UkroBoronProm, Denel Group SOC from South Africa and Czechoslovak Group (CSG). The MoDP has used overseas exhibitions to conclude MoUs (e.g. in Abu Dhabi and Istanbul) and engage with vendors, such as Serbia’s Yugoimport-SDPR and the Czech Republic’s Česká zbrojovka (CZ).