Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak has announced that a contract has been signed for the acquisition of additional Flyeye UAV’s from WB Group for the Polish Artillery.
Lieutenant Colonel Krzysztof Płatek, spokesman for the Armaments Agency, announced the contract for a quantity of Flyeye sets with a gross contract value of approximately $12.5m. The Flyeyes will be issued to the Rocket and Artillery Forces of Poland. Deliveries will begin in 2022 and be complete by March 2023 and will allow for systems to be deployed down to the platoon level rather than just the regimental level.
This acquisition is a natural expansion for the Rocket and Artillery Forces who rely upon WB’s TOPAZ Automated Fire Control System. As a result of Flyeye being fully integrated into TOPAZ-ICMS, indirect fire emplacements can natively utilize Flyeyes capabilities in observing and locating targets as well as fire correction. This solution is deployed across the Polish Artillery Forces and has also been utilized in Afghanistan with a Dana-T howitzer, TOPAZ-AFCS, and Flyeye.
The FlyEye is a mini-class unmanned aerial vehicle launched by hand, which in the latest version – FlyEye 3.0 – has a range specified by the manufacturer at 50 km using a standard antenna. The optoelectronic head has a day and thermal imaging camera, and the communication and control systems have high to RF interference. Flyeyes are also used in Ukraine, where they are successfully used in combat operations for several years without any issues.
FlyEye, apart from the “traditional” tasks of observation or correcting artillery fire, can also act as a retranslator of communication systems. It can also be a component of the W2MPIR Reconnaissance and Strike system, which also uses the FT-5 drones and Warmate Loitering Munitions.
Source: Press Release