The Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak signed a deal with a consortium led by Huta Stalowa Wola, a subsidiary of Poland’s defense company PGZ, to acquire some 1,400 Borsuk (Badger) infantry fighting vehicles and specialist variants based on a UMPG (Uniwersalna Modulowa Platforma Gasienicowa – Universal Modular Tracked Platform to replace the country’s Soviet-era BWP-1 (BMP-1) infantry fighting vehicles. Poland initial plan was to procure 10 battalions of Borsuks (around 588 vehicles), but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted a review of the plan, resulting in an upgrade to 1,000.
Borsuk (Polish for Badger) is an amphibious infantry fighting vehicle produced by Huta Stalowa Wola, a part of PGZ (Polish Armaments Group), designed to replace the fleet of obsolete BWP-1 (Polish designation for the BMP-1). Though often referred to as BWP Borsuk, BWP is not a part of the name, but Polish abbreviation of Bojowy Wóz Piechoty – infantry fighting vehicle. The auxilary vehicles will include a combat reconnnaissance vehicle, command vehicle, armored recovery vehicle, MEDEVAC vehicle and NBC vehicle.
Borsuk is powered by a powerpack consisting of a 720 hp (530 kW) MTU 8V199 TE20 turbo diesel engine, which drives a six gear Perkins X300 automatic transmission. The running gear consists of six dual rubber-lined road wheels, with two return rollers on each side. Borsuk is able to use different type of tracks – it was presented on different occasions outfitted with steel tracks or composite rubber tracks (CRT). In water, Borsuk is propelled by two water jets with rotating nozzles to provide steering in the water. Borsuk’s maximum speed is 65 km/h on road and 8 km/h in water, while its operational range is 550 km.
Borsuk is fitted with the ZSSW-30 remote control turret armed with the 30 mm Mk44S Bushmaster II chain gun and a coaxial 7.62 mm UKM-2000C machine gun. Additionally, the turret features two Spike-LR anti-tank guided missiles in a launch container on the right side. ZSSW-30 provides one of the biggest first stage ammunition racks among the comparable systems, at around 300 autocannon rounds (including over 200 ABM rounds) and 250 machine gun rounds ready to use. Borsuk’s chassis is made out of welded Armox 500T steel plates of varying thickness[12] arranged so that they function as spaced armor.
