On Monday, April 27, 2026, the Polish Armament Agency published a notice on the cancellation of a tender procedure for the supply of a batch of small-caliber 7.62 mm x 51 NATO and 8.6 mm x 70 (.338 Lapua Magnum) ammunition, as well as 76 mm smoke grenades, in 2026–2029. The procedure had been conducted as a competitive restricted procedure since September 1, 2025.
7.62-mm multi-barrel machine gun Dillon Aero M134D / Photo: Grzegorz Sobczak, MILMAG
The procedure covered the supply of:
- 280,000 linked 7.62 mm x 51 NATO rounds with DA165 projectiles for Dillon Aero M134D powered multi-barrel machine guns, also known as Miniguns, or equivalent;
- 11,604 smoke grenades for 76 mm Wegmann launchers on Leopard 2A4/2A5/2PL/2PLM1 tanks, or equivalent;
- 45,000 8.6 mm x 70 (.338 Lapua Magnum) rounds with 19.4 g LOCK BASE projectiles, or equivalent.
The justification states that the order was originally to be financed under the SAFE instrument but did not qualify for it, and was therefore canceled. However, this does not mean the purchase has been abandoned. Continuing the tender in this format could have violated the principles of competitiveness and transparency required for EU funding. The procedure must therefore be repeated in a new format.
Dillon Aero M134D machine guns are in service with Military Unit GROM and the Air Group of the Special Operations Air Unit (PJOS). The former signed a 7,995,000 PLN contract with Works 11 on December 2, 2024, for the supply of ammunition for these weapons.
It is worth adding that, in the case of 8.6 mm x 70 rounds, the previous tender conducted by the Armament Agency, launched on October 14, 2024, for the supply of the same number of rounds, was canceled on June 6, 2025. This was therefore the second attempt to purchase this ammunition. In the Polish Armed Forces, it is used by designated marksmen of the Special Forces, with British Accuracy International AWM-F rifles, French PGM Précision PGM 338 rifles, also known as the PGM Mini-Hécate .338, and Finnish SAKO TRG M10 rifles, as well as by the Land Forces and Territorial Defense Forces, which received 150 SAKO TRG M10 rifles in September and October 2017 under the “Kij” program for an 8.6 mm bolt-action designated marksman rifle chambered for a high-power cartridge, together with ammunition and sighting systems.
The 76 mm Wegmann smoke grenade launchers are grouped in sets of eight on both sides of the turrets of Leopard 2-family tanks. They use Rheinmetall DM25 smoke grenades or variants such as the DM35, which generate a smoke screen that masks the tank in the visible and infrared spectra, making it more difficult to detect with thermal imaging systems and sights.