Policy

The Republic of Poland has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

In a 23 May 2014 letter to the Monitor, the deputy head of Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs acknowledged the need to protect civilians from the humanitarian problems caused by cluster munitions, but said Poland “is not considering becoming a State Party to the Oslo Convention at the present moment.” He cited Poland’s commitment to the Mine Ban Treaty, which it ratified on 27 December 2012.[1]

In September 2013, a Polish official confirmed to the CMC that the government’s position on accession to the Convention on Cluster Munitions remained unchanged, confirming there is awareness of the convention’s humanitarian rationale, but citing Ministry of Defense concerns over the cost of replacing cluster munitions with another weapons system. According to the official, Poland’s Ministry of Defense still considers cluster munitions as a necessary weapon that would only be used in “self-defense.”[2]

Since 2008, Poland has repeatedly stated that it is not in a position to join the convention due to “security needs” and because it is not prepared to accept the convention’s “far-going prohibitions.”[3] In 2009, Poland said that it considered cluster munitions equipped with self-destruct mechanisms and with a failure rate no higher than 3% to be “legitimate weapons of significant military value.”[4]

Poland is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and has long expressed a preference for cluster munitions to be addressed within the CCW. The 2014 letter by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, makes no mention of the CCW.

Poland participated in the Oslo Process that led to the creation of the convention, but from the start made clear that it did not support a comprehensive prohibition on cluster munitions and preferred the CCW framework.[5] Poland attended both the negotiations of the convention in Dublin in May 2008 and the Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference in Oslo in December 2008 as an observer.[6]

Poland has participated in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions since 2008, despite not joining. It has attended every meeting of States Parties of the convention as an observer, including the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013. Poland participated for the second time in the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva in April 2014.

Poland has voted in favor of UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions condemning the Syrian government’s use of cluster munition use, including Resolution 68/182 on 18 December 2013, which expressed “outrage” at Syria’s “continued widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights…including those involving the use of…cluster munitions.”[7]

Poland has consistently stated that the Polish Armed Forces have never used cluster munitions in combat situations.[8] In May 2014, Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, “it is important to note that as in previous years cluster munitions were not used by Polish Armed Forces in combat situations.”[9]

Previously, in 2011, Poland said that cluster munitions were used for training purposes in 2010 and 2011 on training grounds by Poland’s land forces as well as the air force.[10] The 2014 letter makes no mention of the use of cluster munitions for training purposes.

Stockpiling

Poland acknowledges possessing both air-dropped and surface-launched cluster munitions.[11] In May 2013, Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that information on Poland’s holdings of cluster munitions had been disclosed as a transparency measure.[12]

Polish land forces are equipped with the following types:

·         122mm M-21FK “FENIKS-Z” rockets, containing 42 GKO submunitions, used by BM-21/21M or RM-70/85 multi-barrel rocket launchers;

·         122mm “HESYT-1” artillery projectiles, containing 20 GKO submunitions, used by 2S1 “GOŹDZIK” self-propelled howitzers; and

·         98mm “RAD-2” mortar projectiles, containing 12 GKO submunitions, used by M-98 mortars.

The Polish Air Force possesses the following types of cluster munitions:

·         ZK-300 cluster bomb, containing 315 LBOk fragmentation bomblets—both the carrier and bomblets were designed and produced in Poland;

·         BKF expendable unit loader with antivehicle, incendiary and fragmentation bomblets, imported from the former Soviet Union, for use in KMG-U dispensers on Su-22 aircraft;

·         According to information provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in previous years, the GKO submunitions are typical dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICM) that combine an antipersonnel fragmentation with an anti-armor shaped charge. Poland claims that they are an entirely Polish design and are “relatively new and modern” (produced since 2001), incorporating a back-up self-destruction mechanism, which it claims ensures “negligible failure rates of the submunitions in all environmental conditions.”[13]

Poland has stated that its air-delivered cluster munitions, which entered into service in the 1980s during the Warsaw Pact era, are “obsolete” and stressed that “the current military Air Force doctrine does not anticipate any use of air-delivered cluster munitions in military operations.” However, it acknowledged that the Polish Air Force used cluster munitions in 2009 for training crews of Su-22M4 aircraft in 2010. Poland confirmed that the Polish Armed Forces are equipped with cluster munitions for the Su-22M4 aircraft and stated, “If this ammunition is not fully used in training purposes, after the exhaustion of services life, they will be subject to disposal and destruction.”[14]

In 2010, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the armed forces no longer possessed RBK-250, RBK-250-275, and RBK-500 type cluster bombs; in view of their age, the bombs were withdrawn from use during the 1990s and destroyed.[15]

In 2010, the Minister of Defense informed Parliament that “the ministry is considering equipping the Polish Armed Forces with precision strike munitions (intelligent munitions), in case a complete ban on cluster munition use is introduced.”[16]

In May 2014, Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that its cluster munitions are subject to “regular stockpile reviews” and said that “munitions that are not eligible for further use are consequently destroyed, which results in a gradual decrease in the number of stockpiled units.”[17]

Production

Several Polish companies produce cluster munitions. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the types of cluster munitions it lists as being in the Polish arsenal “are produced by the Polish companies exclusively for the needs of the Polish Armed Forces.”[18] The ministry confirmed in 2010 that cluster munitions “are still produced by the Polish companies” for its armed forces.[19]

The Polish company Zakłady Metalowe “DEZAMET” S.A. has produced the ZK-300 Kisajno cluster bomb and also lists producing another type of cluster bomb called the LBKas-250, which contains 120 LBok-1 bomblets.[20] Zakłady Metalowe “DEZAMET” S.A. also produces a 98mm mortar cluster munition, as well as a 122mm projectile designed for the 2S1 “GOŹDZIK” howitzer.[21] The Kraśnik defense plant has produced cluster munitions for 98mm mortars, 122mm artillery, and 152mm artillery.[22] The Polish company Tłocznia Metali Pressta Spółka Akcynjna has manufactured 122mm rockets.[23] Fabryka Produkcji Specjalnej Spółka z o.o. produces the 122mm M-21FK “FENIKS-Z” and the 122mm “HESYT” rockets. It also produces GKO submunitions. Many of these companies are subsidiaries of the Bumar Group, a majority government-owned defense industry consortium of 23 defense sector companies specializing in munitions, rockets, and other weaponry technology.[24] In 2005, regarding future procurement of cluster munitions, Poland stated, “The Ministry of Defense requires during acceptance tests less than 2.5% failure rate for the purchased submunitions.”[25]

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in 2010 that Poland was not prepared to introduce a moratorium on the use, production, or transfer of cluster munitions.[26] In September 2013, a government official confirmed that Poland is not considering enacting a moratorium on the use or production of cluster munitions.[27]

Transfer

In May 2014, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative informed the Monitor that Poland’s stockpiles are “kept under strict control and are not subject to any international transfers.”[28] Previously, in 2010, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the Monitor that Poland and/or Polish companies have not exported any cluster munitions in previous years.[29] In 2010, however, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the Monitor that Polish companies could, theoretically, be legally granted permission to export cluster munitions, if an application was requested.[30]