There are messages on social media about the high efficiency of the Polish Piorun missile
systems.
We decided to find out more about this weapon.
The Russian invasion became a difficult test for the Ukrainian army, which, despite being
weaker in terms of armament than the army of the aggressor, effectively resists and
protects cities and villages from the invaders.
Of course, this is due to the high motivation of our soldiers to defend their land from
invaders.
But the modernization of armament available to the Armed Forces of Ukraine is of great
importance, as well as the purchase of new modern equipment from our partners.
We have already described many types of these weapons in our videos, and today we will take
a closer look at the Polish Piorun anti-aircraft systems, so highly appraised by Ukrainian
fighters.
Let’s take a closer look at the effective Piorun man-portable air defense systems.
History of the development of Grom-1 MPADS
The history of the development of Piorun MPADS originates from the old Grom MPADS.
The need to develop such weapons emerged after the collapse of the USSR and the closing of
production of the post-Soviet Igla-1 complexes.
These man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems were supposed to increase the defense capability
of the Polish Army.
But the number of kits purchased turned out to be insufficient, and the Polish defense
industry faced the problem of a shortage of components, so production stopped.
In this regard, in the early 90s of the last century, the development of a completely Polish
MPADS was initiated.
The Mesko company, which was already related to this type of weapon and had considerable
experience in such developments, took up this business.
The fact is that it was responsible for the production of the post-Soviet Strela-2M MPADS
in the 70s and was supposed to put the Igla-1 complexes on the conveyor.
The company used its decades of experience to develop weapons of an entirely new level.
Interestingly, the development of Polish MPADS did not last long and was completed at the
end of 1992, which was facilitated by the participation of several national research
institutes in this project.
They cooperated together under the program ‘Modern technologies of the Grom air defense
system’, and the result of this work was the first version of the Grom-1 complex, which
was launched into production at Mesko’s factories in 1995.
Of course, this complex was far from perfect, but Grom-1 MPADS was adopted by the Polish
Army already in 1996.
It must be understood that this was not a completely Polish project, since it used,
for example, a modified guidance system from the post-Soviet complex.
Until the beginning of the 21st century, engineers worked to make the Grom-1 entirely Polish
military equipment.
Fortunately, they succeeded, because in 2000 Telesystem-Mesko began production of new homing
warheads for the Grom complex, which was received by the Polish Army 2 years later.
Features of Grom-1 MPADS
The Grom-1 MPADS consists of a disposable tube-shaped launcher and a single-stage missile,
equipped with an infrared guidance system.
Therefore, it utilizes the same principle of operation as the FIM-92 Stinger MPADS.
A man-portable air defense system detects a heat source, that is, in fact, the engine
and exhaust ports of an aircraft or helicopter, after which the warhead destroys them.
The complex supports the possibility of mounting a thermal imaging sight, and the launch can
be carried out ‘from the shoulder’ or from an anti-aircraft unit.
Very similar to the FIM-92 Stinger MPADS, but with its own features.
Piorun MPADS, aka GROM-M
You may ask why I paid so much attention to the GROM-1 anti-aircraft missile system?
The fact is that the Piorun portable anti-aircraft missile system is an upgraded version of the
GROM-1 complex, which is also known as GROM-M.
After developing a completely Polish version of the GROM MPADS, Mesko did not leave this
complex without modernization.
Hence the many years of work on the further development of its capabilities, which in
2010-2015 ended in such profound changes that Mesko introduced a new version of this MPADS
called Piorun, the second name of which is GROM-M.
The Piorun man-portable anti-aircraft missile system demonstrated its capabilities especially
successfully in the Russian-Georgian conflict, during which nine Russian vehicles were hit
by it.
Piorun MPADS are designed to deal with helicopters, aircraft, and small targets such as unmanned
aerial vehicles at altitudes from 10 m to about 4 km and at distances from 400 m to
more than 6 km.
What else has changed in the Piorun MPADS compared to the GROM MPADS?
Of course, the most important thing is the range and altitude of the projectile, as well
as its effectiveness in destroying the target.
The new missile is shorter, and although its original weight of 10.5 kg was retained, it
was possible to increase the weight of the warhead itself to 1.82 kg (an increase of
0.47 kg), and a combination of aluminum powder and HMX was used in the explosive mixture.
Although the missiles have the same weight, the capabilities of the new Piorun MPADS missile
have improved significantly.
The sensitivity of the targeting system to the heat source has been increased thanks
to a four times more sensitive photodiode, the developers also improved the interference
immunity.
In addition, a non-contact fuse has been added, thanks to which Piorun can deal better with
smaller targets (for example, UAVs).
That is, in comparison with the GROM-1 MPADS, the latest weapon has a longer range and better
noise immunity and is also adapted to work at night.
In addition, the Piorun MPADS received an improved sight, which makes it possible to
detect a target twice as efficiently.
Talking about counteracting interference, the developers took care of optimizing the
detection ranges, using a new infrared spectral range, kinematic selection, and increasing
the efficiency of systems responsible for the signal.
In addition, argon has been used to cool the seeker’s detector, and flight stability
has been improved with a laser gyroscope.
Subsequent improvements were made to the launcher, crosshairs, and subsystems, aimed at improving
the efficiency of the complex at night.
Mesko engineers also added a rail for easy mounting of scopes and an authorization system.
All this made the Piorun MPADS better in every way compared to the GROM MPADS.
Many of the advantages and effectiveness of the Piorun MPADS were highly appreciated by
the Ukrainian military during combat use against the Russian occupants.
In February of this year, an agreement was signed for the supply of Polish Piorun MANPADS
with the US Department of Defense.
Piorun MPADS means higher efficiency
When modernizing the complex, the focus, among other things, was to increase the effectiveness
of hitting small targets, such as drones.
This problem was solved by using a non-contact fuse along with a delayed impact fuse and
a warhead with an explosive in the form of a mixture of HMX and aluminum powder.
According to the Military Technology University, a greater detection range was achieved thanks
to a new homing head stabilized by a laser gyroscope.
In addition, it was made reprogrammable and a modern detection system with greater sensitivity
was used.
The parameters of preamplifiers were also optimized and digital trigger algorithms were
developed.
On the other hand, the modifications applied in the area of the main modules made it possible
to increase the resistance to interference.
Piorun automatically aims at the source of thermal radiation, at the engine of a helicopter
or aircraft.
A modified propulsion engine with more efficient fuel provides a longer range and better maneuverability.
The deliveries of Piorun MPADS play a very important role in strengthening the potential
of the Ukrainian military.
They proved to be excellent during the fighting against the Russian invaders.
The fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the National Guard are very pleased with
them!