Tanks and guns and... drones

The star of this year's Kielce MSPO arms fair was the Polish-designed and built Anders light tank (below), which was unveiled on the opening day.

Below: familiar from Polish newsreels, the Rosomak armoured personnel carrier. This is the standard version, Finnish design, licence-built in Poland. The ones used in Afghanistan have thicker armour and cannot float.

Below: The casualty evacuation version, the Rosomak WEM in Afghanistan colours. Meshing on the side is a WWII improvisation to protect against 'sticky' mines or magnetic charges.


The most visible feature of the arms shows to me was the UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles); there seemed to be vast numbers of exhibitors demonstrating them. This one (left) hovered overhead while President Komorowski was making the opening speech. At a stand inside there was an even smaller one costing a mere $120,000 that relays images back to what looks like an armoured iPad; the whole thing with a battery pack can be lugged around in a rucksack. Pop these things up in the air to see what the foe (or soccer hooligans) are up to. Apparently the next generation of UAVs will be insect-sized and will be able to fly into Taliban caves to bring live footage from within. (One exhibitor was talking about a working prototype weighing no more than a single sheet of A4 paper.)