This is simply a milestone in the construction of air defence – present Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said after receiving the study about the first operational readiness of elements of the Vistula strategy and integrating it with the IBCS, which is the state-of-the-art anti-aircraft command system. In Sochaczew, the head of the MON watched the training of the 37th Air defence Rocket Squadron.
Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and Mark Brzezinski, US Ambassador to Warsaw, visited the 3rd Warsaw Anti-Aircraft defence Rocket Brigade on Wednesday. In Sochaczew, they observed training of the Patriot system's first operational readiness carried out by the 37th Air defence Rocket Squadron.
The squadron commander reported to the Defence Minister on the first readiness of the Vistula strategy and integrated it into the IBCS system. "This, as Kosiniak-Kamish said, is the operating brain of the Vistula system. We are witnessing a historical minute and a large minute for the operational capabilities of the Polish Army. It is simply a milestone in the construction of the air defence of the Polish state". The Deputy Prime Minister referred to experiences fighting the Russian Ukrainian aggressor and conclusions which Poland drew from the course of the fighting. – The war behind our east border showed how crucial air defense, anti-aircraft and anti-missile is. What systems you request to gotta respond to thousands of attacks and effectively defend yourself," explained the Minister of Defence. – We draw on this cognition and build our own air defence systems. They consist of respective layers, starting with a layer of very short range, as Pilica Plus and Narew, getting to what is present the most crucial component of air defense, i.e. defending average scope in the Vistula programme.
Mark Brzezinski, Ambassador of the United States, recalled that Poland is the first country in the planet to accomplish first operational readiness IBCS integrated command system. It's a technology that changes the rules of the game. Even the U.S. Army is just beginning to usage this technology," he admitted.
Brig. Gen. Michał Marciniak, Deputy Head of the Armed Forces Agency, stressed that as of today, the 37th Air Defence Rocket Division has gained full freedom and independency in planning and carrying out combat tasks utilizing the IBCS system. – We are the only outside U.S. user of this strategy that changes the perception of anti-aircraft and rocket defense. This means that the anti-aircraft and anti-missile defence of the Polish Armed Forces enters the 21st century," said Brig-Gen. Michał Marciniak.
During the gathering with the soldiers-operators of the system, Deputy Prime Minister Kosiniak-Kamish thanked everyone active in creating the country's air defence, because, as he stated, this is 1 of the most crucial challenges facing Poland.
In September 2023, the U.S. Department of State approved the sale of the IBCS strategy to Poland. The Integrated Air and rocket defence conflict Command strategy allows you to manage various types of anti-aircraft and anti-missile kits to receive information about the objectives provided from all available radar areas (from each kind of armed force). For Poland it will be utilized for needs six Patriot strategy launch batteries and 23 Narew kits.
The Vistula programme is 1 of the elements of the multilayered air defence strategy based on batteries of the U.S. strategy MIM-104 Patriot.
