{"id":67294,"date":"2026-09-16T21:42:05","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T19:42:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=67294"},"modified":"2026-09-18T23:18:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T21:18:01","slug":"the-polish-armys-bwp-borsuk-armored-vehicle-and-the-reason-behind-its-unusual-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2026\/09\/16\/the-polish-armys-bwp-borsuk-armored-vehicle-and-the-reason-behind-its-unusual-design\/","title":{"rendered":"The Polish Army's BWP Borsuk armored vehicle and the reason behind its unusual design"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In 1966, the Soviet Union fielded a combat vehicle that proved revolutionary for its time: the BMP-1.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2026\/02\/09\/the-advanced-m1a2-sepv3-abrams-tanks-that-the-polish-army-is-receiving-from-the-usa\/\">The advanced M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams tanks that the Polish Army is receiving from the USA<\/a><\/rel><br \/>\n<rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2025\/09\/30\/the-characteristics-of-the-polish-k2pl-one-of-the-most-advanced-tanks-in-europe\/\">The characteristics of the Polish K2PL, one of the most advanced tanks in Europe<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n<p><strong>The BMP-1 was the first infantry fighting vehicle<\/strong>\u2014a concept combining an armored personnel carrier with a turret armed with a 73mm cannon and an anti-tank missile, giving the model significant firepower. <strong>Poland designated the BMP-1 as the BWP-1<\/strong> (below).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55532864310_c7912c0fb6_o.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55532864310_0fc74ddfa6_z.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Both the BMP-1 and the BWP-1 soon became obsolete due to the emergence of new anti-tank missiles. <strong>In 2014, the Polish company Huta Stalowa Wola S.A. began preparing for the development of the BWP-1's successor: the BWP Borsuk<\/strong>, which entered service last year. Today, the company released a video demonstrating <strong>the rationale behind the Borsuk's distinctive design: its amphibious capability<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bojowy W\u00f3z Piechoty BORSUK w r\u0119kach 15. BZ w Gi\u017cycku \" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DTOyI0xGZ_4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Poland's greatest strategic threat is Russia<\/strong>\u2014and, by extension, the Kremlin's puppet regime in Belarus led by Alexander Lukashenko. <strong>Poland shares a 232-kilometer direct border with Russia<\/strong> via the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, located in northwestern Poland along the Baltic Sea, <strong>and a border of approximately 400 kilometers with Belarus.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55532588553_d1bf763f13_o.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55532588553_9a4d1ef6bf_z.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Eastern Poland has a vast number of wetlands and peat bogs.<\/strong> This is why the Polish Army long maintained its cavalry, employing it during World War II as mounted infantry: <strong>at the time, horses were the ideal means of transporting troops across those wet areas.<\/strong> Today, mechanized transport is required.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55532588468_8748dd51c3_o.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55532588468_1a78a1b870_z.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>The hull of the BWP Borsuk was designed to create a fully amphibious vehicle<\/strong> capable of fording watercourses without requiring any prior preparation. <strong>This gives the Polish Army the ability to deploy mechanized infantry troops more rapidly in such wet terrain.<\/strong> A retractable plate at the front facilitates fording; it can be quickly deployed and retracted from the driver's station.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55531456677_08f9d720d1_o.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55531456677_e067fd85b8_z.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2022\/07\/28\/the-1000-tanks-and-other-modern-weapons-that-poland-has-bought-to-defend-itself-against-russia\/\">In 2022, the Polish government announced the purchase of 588 BWP Borsuk infantry fighting vehicles<\/a>, a model that was under development at the time. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.polska-zbrojna.pl\/home\/articleshow\/43536?t=Borsuki-kupione\" target=\"_blank\">The first contract for the Borsuk was signed in March 2025 for a batch of 111 vehicles<\/a>, with delivery scheduled between 2025 and 2029, and <a href=\"https:\/\/defence-blog.com\/poland-orders-146-more-borsuk-fighting-vehicles-in-2b-deal\/\" target=\"_blank\">the second contract was signed in May 2026<\/a> for a batch of 146 vehicles. <a href=\"https:\/\/flickr.com\/photos\/ministerstwoobronynarodowej\/54962395852\/\" target=\"_blank\">The first 15 vehicles were delivered on December 4, 2025<\/a> (pictured above). However, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.polska-zbrojna.pl\/home\/articleshow\/43568?t=-HSW-inwestuje-w-przyszlosc\" target=\"_blank\">the Polish Army has estimated its requirements at 1,014 Borsuk infantry fighting vehicles<\/a>, in addition to 341 specialized vehicles using the same platform.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55532588508_87ce329b6e_o.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55532588508_5347d1777c_z.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>This vehicle has a total of eleven versions, named Borsuk<\/strong> (infantry fighting vehicle), <strong>Oset<\/strong> (command), <strong>\u017buk<\/strong> (reconnaissance), <strong>Ares<\/strong> (NBC reconnaissance), <strong>Gekon<\/strong> (recovery), <strong>Rak<\/strong> (120 mm mortar carrier), <strong>Gotem<\/strong> (medical evacuation), <strong>Jod\u0142a GTWI<\/strong> (engineer transport), <strong>Jod\u0142a GTRI<\/strong> (engineer reconnaissance), <strong>Jod\u0142a PTI<\/strong> (amphibious engineer transport) and <strong>Jod\u0142a TMN<\/strong> (mine dispersal).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55531456592_7b26297660_o.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55531456592_a8615fd762_z.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>The BWP Borsuk infantry fighting vehicle variant is equipped with a ZSSW-30 unmanned turret<\/strong>, featuring a Mk-44S Bushmaster 30mm main autocannon, a UKM-2000C 7.62mm coaxial machine gun, and a dual Spike LR anti-tank missile launcher. Missile reloading can be performed via a rear top hatch without the need to exit the vehicle. <strong>The turret features an Obra-3 active defense system<\/strong> that detects missile-guiding laser rangefinders and automatically fires eight GAk-81 81mm smoke grenade launchers, arranged in groups of four on each side of the turret (the launchers on the left side are visible below).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55532475801_a166f6252f_o.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55532475801_3534062b85_z.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Borsuk can reach a speed of 65 km\/h on roads<\/strong> and up to 8 km\/h in water. During water-crossing maneuvers, the vehicle is propelled by two swiveling nozzles that generate water jets. <strong>The Borsuk has an operational range of 550 km and is equipped with either metal or rubber tracks.<\/strong> The running gear consists of six road wheels and two return rollers on each side.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55532864330_073af5de6c_o.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55532864330_a166f6252f_z.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>The crew consists of three people:<\/strong> commander, gunner, and drive, seated within the hull. Additionally, <strong>it features a rear compartment for six fully equipped soldiers<\/strong>, who access the vehicle via a rear ramp (which also incorporates a side-opening door).<\/p>\n<p>---<\/p>\n<p><small>Photos: <a href=\"https:\/\/flickr.com\/photos\/ministerstwoobronynarodowej\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej<\/a> \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/polska-zbrojna.pl\/Mobile\/ArticleShow\/33059\" target=\"_blank\">Polska Zbrojna<\/a>.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 1966, the Soviet Union fielded a combat vehicle that proved revolutionary for its time: the BMP-1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19631,19534,11544],"tags":[16808,10370,10469],"class_list":["post-67294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bloque-6-defense-eng","category-defense-portada-eng","category-army","tag-bwp-borsuk","tag-poland","tag-polish-army"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-28 16:34:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67294\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}