Polish arms manufacturer Mesko is likely to deliver 200 to 300 of Piorun shoulder-launched air-defence missile systems, the company announced. Both countries signed a letter of intent on 14 May 2025, with the official deal to be concluded on a later date.
“The most performance Manportable Air Defence System on the global market,” Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken posted on the X message service after visiting the Mesko factory in Radom, Poland. The Piorun deal has been confirmed to be in the EUR 140 million range.
Belgian-Polish coop on F-35 and MQ-9
Belgium and Poland also agreed to cooperate on the new F-35 fighter jet and MQ-9 Reaper drone, with Belgium training Polish personnel flying these machines while Poland will share other military knowledge. “Poland has one of the strongest armies in NATO. We can learn from them”, Francken acknowledges.
The Piorun has been deployed and/or ordered by Poland, Latvia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Georgia, the United States and Ukraine. It reportedly works well on the battlefront in Ukraine, but deliveries are a bit behind scheduled, as you could read in the story “Polish portable anti-air missile system scores, but production delayed”, published on Nordicreporter.com on 12 February 2025. | © 2025 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com. Featured image: The Piorun during field trials in summer 2024 (Press photo: Mesko)