Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa participates in the Eurosatory 2024 fair in Paris, presenting a wide range of equipment and accessories. The real star of the show is the new Borsuk amphibious infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), making its debut on this event. The Eurosatory fair is one of the largest defence exhibitions in the world. The event, organized alternately with the London DSEI fair, brings together exhibitors from all over the world in Paris every two years. All major arms manufacturers, a wide range of recipients and industry opinion leaders are present in Paris. Eurosatory is also a traditional place for premiere demonstrations of new weapon systems. It’s one of the reasons that Borsuk from Stalowa Wola makes its debut there.
“Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa, as a leading defence company in Europe, is present at all the most important industry events, including the Eurosatory fair. We are pleased to present modern, battlefield-proven equipment, as well as solutions that will soon be included in the equipment of the Polish army. Hence the presence of the Borsuk at our exhibition – one of the best solutions in this category of vehicles. I believe that the quality of Polish products, the growing interest they generate, as well as business relationships established during this kind of events will soon open up new export opportunities for us,”said Krzysztof Trofiniak, president of the management board of PGZ S.A.
Borsuk (Polish for Badger) is an amphibious infantry fighting vehicle produced by Huta Stalowa Wola, a part of PGZ (Polish Armaments Group). It is designed to replace the BWP-1 IFV that has been in service with the Polish Armed Forces since 1973 but is now obsolete. Although often referred to as BWP Borsuk, BWP is not an official part of the name but rather an abbreviation of Bojowy Wóz Piechoty, the Polish term for infantry fighting vehicles. Currently the only existing variant of the Borsuk is the IFV variant with the ZSSW-30 turret, though the chassis (or its components) is intended to be the base for a whole family of vehicles.
The armor protection of the ZSSW-30 turret is not disclosed by the manufacturer, but according to unofficial sources, the armour consists of a thin layer of polyethylene fabric sandwiched between two steel plates and an additional piece of ceramic composite armour on the ATGM container. This provides level III protection for both the main structure and the missile container as well as level II protection for external parts like the commander sight. ZSSW-30 also has mounting points for add-on armor plates or camouflage nets. The ZSSW-30 fire control system made by WB Group provides full hunter-killer and killer-killer capabilities as well as superb accuracy when firing at moving targets from both moving and standing position.
Borsuk’s chassis is made out of welded Armox 500T steel plates of varying thickness arranged in such a way that they can function as spaced armor. This, according to official sources, gives the chassis STANAG 4569 level IV protection from the front and level III protection from the sides and the rear against ballistic threats, as well as level lIla and IIlb against mine blasts. Borsuk could be even better armored, with its chassis being able to stop Russian 30mm 3UBR6 and 3U8R8 rounds from the frontal arc (±30° from the centerline) and 12.7mm and 14.5mm from the sides, even though the latter type may cause some damage to the engine block. The chassis can be up-armored as it’s fitted with mounting points on the front and sides.
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. The suspension is hydropneumatic and consists of six Horstman InArm units on each side. Borsuk is able to use different types of tracks – it was presented on different occasions outfitted with steel tracks or composite rubber tracks (CRT). The vehicle is fully amphibious without any special preparations – crossing a body of water only requires raising the trim vane. In the water Borsuk is propelled by two water jets with rotating nozzles and steering capability. The Borsuk’s maximum speed is 65 km/h on the road and 8 km/h in the water. Its operational range is 550 km.
