Twenty potential contractors registered for Poland’s preliminary market consultations on a laser directed‑energy weapon, the Armament Agency (Agencja Uzbrojenia) confirmed in late June — a wide early field for what the agency frames as the innermost layer of short‑range air defence.
Agencja Uzbrojenia’s LSBSE requirement: two ranges, layered air defence role
The consultations cover a system the agency designates Laserowy System Broni Skierowanej Energii (LSBSE) and ask industry to address two distinct configurations: one built to engage targets at a minimum range of one kilometre, the other at a minimum range of three kilometres. The published documents frame the weapons primarily as a counter‑unmanned‑aircraft capability, while also referencing artillery and rocket munitions — reflecting a counter‑rocket‑artillery‑and‑mortar role. Polish reporting places the laser behind the Wisła, Narew and Pilica systems, and complementary to the SAN counter‑drone effort.
Scope of information requested: cost, lifecycle and industrial constraints
On scale, the Armament Agency asked respondents to estimate the cost of procuring up to 150 systems across both variants, together with repair kits covering 10 years of service. The consultation goes beyond unit price: submissions were asked to cover lifecycle and withdrawal costs, security of supply, training, technology readiness level, technology transfer, component ownership and export restrictions. The agency has left the acquisition route open, permitting either government‑to‑government or business‑to‑business arrangements. The consultations are non‑binding and intended to precede a later formal procurement shaped by market responses; submissions were due by 30 April, with the agency reserving the option to extend that window.
Respondents: global primes, Polish institutes and small engineering firms
The field is unusually broad. Respondents include global defence primes such as Kongsberg, RTX, MBDA, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Rheinmetall Polska, Hanwha Aerospace Europe, AeroVironment, EOS Defence Systems, Roketsan and Türkiye’s Tübitak Bilgem, alongside Polish suppliers and the Air Force Institute of Technology (ITWL). A number of small engineering firms also registered; one of those, Zabrze‑based Adapt‑E, describes its core business as simulation software and training systems rather than directed‑energy hardware.
Unlike Poland’s 2019 approach — when the Armament Inspectorate issued an RFI codenamed LASER that produced no in‑service weapon — several respondents now already field maturing systems. The source points to Rafael’s Iron Beam as a 100‑kilowatt‑class laser developed to counter drones, rockets and mortars, and notes EOS secured a €70 million order in 2024 to supply a counter‑drone laser to a European NATO member (identified since as the Netherlands).
Operational rationale: cost arithmetic and the appeal of directed energy
The consultations track a cost argument sharpened by recent combat experience: a drone costing a few thousand dollars can compel a defender to expend far more on the interceptor used to stop it. The source material sets out the attraction of lasers in that arithmetic — once fielded, a laser’s per‑shot cost can fall below the value of the target destroyed, and the defender does not need a magazine of missiles to stockpile or move forward. That economic dynamic sits alongside the technical goal of providing an inner‑layer counter‑UAV and counter‑projectile capability within Poland’s layered air‑defence architecture.
What this means for the Polish Armed Forces, vendors, and supply chains
- Polish Armed Forces: The consultations mark a formal first step toward purchase and the system’s eventual introduction into service; the agency’s request for lifecycle, withdrawal and security‑of‑supply data signals a focus on sustainment as well as initial acquisition.
- Vendors with maturing systems: Firms such as Rafael and EOS that already field high‑power or ordered counter‑drone lasers have tangible commercial openings, especially given the solicitation’s scale of up to 150 systems and the allowance for G2G or B2B deals.
- Supply chains and industrial policy actors: The agency’s explicit requests on technology transfer, component ownership and export restrictions will make supply‑chain transparency, domestic industrial participation and export control regimes central to any successful bid.
The Armament Agency’s consultation process — announced at the end of March, responses due by 30 April and confirmed to have drawn 20 registrants in late June — now moves to analysis of those market inputs. The agency has the option to extend the consultation window; its findings will shape the next, formal procurement step toward equipping the Polish Armed Forces with a laser directed‑energy inner‑layer capability.
Source: Quwa — Poland Opens Market Consultations for Air Defence Lasers, Drawing 20 Respondents
