On 30th January the 2nd Regional Logistic Base (2. Regionalna Baza Logistyczna) in Warsaw officially launched another tender for procurement of a series of modern, armoured, all-terrain tactical vehicles for the Polish Army.

The Polish Army operates approx. 2 500 Honker vehicles in several configurations, including: Tarpan Honker, Honker 2324, Honker 2000 and Honker 2000 2N, as well as special purpose variants, such as Honker Skorpion-3, ZWD-3, WD-2001 or ZWD-99bat. The Ministry of Defense has been unsuccessfully trying to select the favourable replacement platform for the past four years / Picture: Polish MoD

The Polish Army operates approx. 2 500 Honker vehicles in several configurations, including: Tarpan Honker, Honker 2324, Honker 2000 and Honker 2000 2N, as well as special purpose variants, such as Honker Skorpion-3, ZWD-3, WD-2001 or ZWD-99bat. The Ministry of Defense has been unsuccessfully trying to select the favourable replacement platform for the past four years / Picture: Polish MoD

Under the new tender the Army intends to procure 485 all-terrain, armoured vehicles, plus additional 150 as an option. The delivery timeline envisions handing over of the first batch of 210 vehicles (including 50 as an option) by 30th October 2020. Deliveries should run through to 28th October 2022.

This is the 6th attempt to procure new generation all-terrain tactical vehicle for the Polish Army. The previous five, three of which were launched by the Armaments Inspectorate, failed to meet their goal, as the offers submitted by particular local and international manufactures exceeded the procurement budget (Poland holds on to Honker, 2019-12-18).

The new all-terrain vehicles are to replace the currently operated family of Honker 4×4 vehicles, UAZ469 and some of Mercedes-Benz, which no longer meet the requirements of the modern battlefield and don’t provide its crews with appropriate protection due to their obsolescence.