Breakthrough time for WZL- 2

What financial situation is the company presently in?

Last year, for the first time in 5 years, we ended up on the plus side.

How is it that a company like yours, with any sources of financing in the form of multi-annual service and repair contracts, was in specified a bad financial situation?

These are questions primarily to the erstwhile boards of the company. I remember perfectly well that erstwhile I left the plant supervisory board in 2014, I left a profitable company with advanced technologies, with developed IT systems, structured books and ownership structure.

Does he conclude from your answer that all these elements later ceased to function properly?

Unfortunately, it should be assumed. An utmost example of this is that after the merger of WZL No 2 and WZL No 4 the accounts of both entities were not combined and that the financial statements were not submitted within the time limits provided for in the Accounting Act.

What were the consequences?

In my view, fundamental, due to the fact that if the reports were not submitted on time, it means that they were not assessed by an external auditor who objectively points to problems, shortcomings or areas of risk.

Maybe it was due to the fact that it was worth PLN 800 million Orlik programThat inactive hasn't been finalized. Why?

This is simply a hard question, but it gives a chance to explain many things, any very media. From the beginning. Orlik's first-born sin is the way he was acquired, which is that alternatively of opting for R & D, the parties adopted the procedure of acquisition with adjustment, as a legal expression for this project.

What did this mean in practice?

Research work, especially in the basic area, is most frequently financed from the state budget. This is simply a rational approach, since most of these projects have a low rate of return and are only liable for the accumulation of cognition and companies, smaller and larger, have no resources to invest and wait 10-15 years to earn.

Why a decade?

Because as the experience of not only the Polish armory shows, but actually the full world, so many advanced projects are going on, from the first line on the board to the implementation into the service of the product. These are years, sometimes decades, and in utmost cases even longer. Emphasis, advanced. We're not talking about simple production.

Or, in this case, just the Polish Armoured Group, colloquially speaking, took a hoe to the sun? For a technology task beyond its reach?

I absolutely cannot agree with that. Military Aviation Plants No. 2, but, more broadly, a consortium composed of entities belonging to the Polish Armed Forces Group proved that it had the cognition and possible to make a modern strategy based on a 150-kilogram unmanned aircraft. To this end we have developed and built our own airframe and aggregates, a command vehicle, and above all an independent communication system.

But why is it taking so long? Why isn't Orlik in the service yet? Slip is simply a fewer years and PLN 800 million.

The company did not receive any PLN 800 million. Although I cannot, for apparent reasons, disclose exact amounts, we are talking about values close to 1/10 of the said sum, paid in advance, and the remainder of the task costs are covered by our resources.

And a immense debt from PGZ, which you see in your yearly accounts...

Yes, in the yearly accounts of WZL 2 for 2024 there is specified a position.

Returning to Orlik, since the task proved so demanding, possibly our army wished, colloquially speaking, the star of death, or solution besides complicated, besides expensive?

The answer to this question is not as simple and apparent as any seem. Orlik is simply a task that started in 2018 and its assumptions were based on experience from Afghanistan and Iraq, where unmanned people performed completely different functions than in the modern battlefield. Over time, our troops have changed their expectations of Orlik...

By putting more of them in the pot?

It's a large thought shortcut. Although I cannot disclose detailed data, I can clearly state that the company has developed appropriate competences and meets the expectations of the contracting authority.

So the airman must have grown significantly?

Not so much grow as to have a much more efficient drive to carry 150 kg of cargo in the form of radar and optoelectronic head, as well as be able to spend the required hours in the air. To sum up, the method expectations grew, and we covered them with our own resources, due to the fact that this is simply a contract to buy with adjustment, not investigation and development.

By closing Orlik's story. Now what?

We are waiting to negociate with the awarding entity an annex to the 2018 agreement. Then we can produce and deliver an unmanned army.

Are the plans of WZL No. 2 inactive up to date as the centre of unmanned PGZ-et competences?

Definitely! I am aware that through Orlik's prism it is easy to depreciate our achievements, cognition and skills, but with this program we have truly gained know-how for another projects. You can see that in drones Visionfinder And the projects we're working on.

A fewer months ago it was signed by our government. agreement on modernization of Polish F-16, where WZL No 2 is indicated as the contractor. Is this a fresh start for you after the Su-22 withdrawal?

It's a large generalization, due to the fact that for almost 20 years we have had any competence in F-16. But yes, looking at the scope of the work we are expected to do with Hawks, electronic systems, as well as the possibilities that this gives us towards another users of this kind of aircraft, is definitely an crucial breakthrough time for our company. After decades, during which we dealt exclusively with post-Soviet aviation technology and gradually gaining competence with Western machines, they will become 1 of the main areas of our business.

What phase are you presently in the MLU (Mid-Life Upgrade) of our F-16?

We are preparing for this intensively, due to the fact that it is an absolute precedence for us to have a human resource with the cognition and skills required. What we have in the close future is the completion of all legal and financial issues between us and the buyer.

Poland gained another kind of aircraft any time ago, Korean FA-50. We're expected to have almost fifty. Will WZL No. 2 handle their service and repairs?

We're working hard on this. We have undergone appropriate audits and have been identified by the maker of these machines, the Korean company KAI, to be a organization to the FA-50 service contract. What awaits us is to enter into a appropriate contract with the Armed Forces Support Inspectorate, who is liable for keeping the aircraft ready for combat.