On July 21, Huta Stalowa Wola (Stalowa Wola Metalworks, belonging to the Polish Armament Group) signed a license agreement with German company Rheinmetall Waffe Munition (belonging to Rheinmetall AG) regarding production of selected parts of Rh-120/L44 120-mm smoothbore tank guns in Poland.
The contract was signed by CEO of HSW Bartłomiej Zając and CEO of Rheinmetall Waffe Munition Roman Koehne. Signed contract provides a license for 20 years. / Photo: PGZ
The license covers production of 120-mm barrels for Leopard 2A4/A5/PL/PLM1 tanks used by Polish Armed Forces and acquisition of competence to fit Huta Stalowa Wola in Rheinmetall AG group’s supply chain. Huta Stalowa Wola current competences include production of gun barrels in calibers between 30 mm to 155 mm, and length of up to 9 meters. Additionally, for a few years now, HSW has produced 120-mm barrels for M120K Rak mortars, 155-mm ones for self-propelled gun-howitzer Krab, and towed mortars.
Sebastian Chwałek, chairman of the Polish Armament Group board said:
One of the Polish Armament Group’s strategic goals is creation of competency centers for particular groups of products within the Group. Huta Stalowa Wola, which has the greatest capabilities in barrel production in our country, expands their field to cover an extremely important product designated for the Leopard 2 tank family. Today’s agreement is our next step in the direction of becoming the Polish Armed Forces primary choice for delivery of military equipment and comprehensive service for its life cycle.
Bartłomiej Zając, CEO Huta Stalowa Wola added:
With the acquisition of license for manufacturing tank gun barrels, HSW now has the entire spectrum of artillery barrels and acquires new competence and business opportunities regarding tank gun barrels. For our company, it constitutes another milestone in building specialized military gear for the Polish Army. Producing tank barrels expands our activity regarding armored projects.
Roman Koehne, CEO Rheinmetall Waffe Munition, noted:
Contract signed today is the next step in the development of our cooperation with HSW, with which we are very pleased. Huta Stalowa Wola is a professional partner, and we are ready to expand it further to cover more types of modern tank weapons if the Polish Ministry Of National Defence decides to arm Polish tanks with new types of 120 or 130 mm guns.
Huta Stalowa Wola received a license from German company Rheinmetall Waffe Munition for manufacturing elements of 120-mm Rh-120/L44 tank guns / Photo: Jakub Link-Lenczowski
Cooperation with Rheinmetall was initiated in 2012 and has been primarily focused on production of barrels for Krab gun-howitzer. License agreement for production of tank barrels is the next step of the cooperation which will bring benefits not only to the both sides of the contract, but also to the Polish Armed Forces, securing vital national interests regarding elements of tank guns by launching the production of Rh-120/L44 barrels in Poland.
The company invested in development of their barrel manufacturing competency in the last few years. Since 2017, it has expanded the barrel-making section, acquired new numerically controlled machine tools and autofrettage machines used to strengthen the interior of the barrels. Thanks to the signed contract, HSW portfolio will also include Leopard gun barrels. The company also increased employment and trained specialized staff.
HSW invested 34.35 million złoty in development of the barrel making section, including over 20 million funding from the state’s treasury not constituting public aid. In the years 2018-2020, further investments took another 16.4 million złoty. The total sum of investment into the capability of making gun barrels reached 50.7 million złoty. HSW spent nearly 3 millions on technological research and development and implementing production of barrels of various calibers.
