Poland

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

In April 2012, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the Monitor that Poland’s position on accession to the Convention on Cluster Munitions remaind unchanged.[1]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.”[2]Poland has said that it considers cluster munitions equipped with self-destruct mechanisms and with a failure rate no higher than 3% to be “legitimate weapons of significant military value.”[3]

Poland has consistently expressed its preference for cluster munitions to be addressed within the framework of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).In April 2012, Poland informed the Monitor that it has not initiated a process to review its position on the Convention on Cluster Munitions following the November 2011 failure by the CCW to adopt a protocol on cluster munitions.[4]

In April 2012, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the Monitor that Poland’s position with regard to enacting a national moratorium on the use, production, or transfer of cluster munitions “has not been changed.”[5]Previously, in 2010, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Poland is not in a position to undertake a moratorium on the use, production, acquisition, or transfer of cluster munitions, but repeated that Poland attaches “the utmost importance to the humanitarian aspects of the use of cluster munitions and supports measures designed to reduce civilian losses and suffering.”[6]

Poland participated in the Oslo Process that led to the creation of the convention, but made it clear from the start that it did not support a comprehensive prohibition on cluster munitions and preferred to address the issue within the framework of the CCW.[7] 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.[8]

Poland attended the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011 as an observer, but did not make any statements. It did not participate inthe convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva in April 2012.

Poland is a signatory to the Mine Ban Treaty and has indicated that it will ratify in 2012.[9]

Convention on Conventional Weapons

Poland is a party to the CCW andit has actively engaged in theCCW work on cluster munitions. At the Fourth Review Conference in November 2011, Poland was one of a small group of countries that strongly supported the conclusion of a draft protocol on cluster munitions. The Review Conference ended without reaching agreement on the draft protocol, thus concluding the CCW’s work on cluster munitions. Poland has called the CCW’s failure to reach consensus on the text “sad news for international security policy.”[10]

Use

Poland has consistently stated that the Polish Armed Forces have never used cluster munitions in combat situations.[11]

In June 2011, Poland confirmed that, as in previous years, cluster munitions were used for training purposes in 2010 and 2011 on training grounds by its land forces as well as the air force.[12]

Stockpiling

Poland acknowledges possessing both air-dropped and surface-launched cluster munitions.[13] 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.

·         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 antitank, 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.”[14]

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, Poland acknowledged that the Polish Air Force used cluster munitions in 2009 for training crews of Su-22M4 aircraftin 2010. It 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.”[15]

In 2010, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the Armed Forces no longer possessed RBK-250, RBK-275, and RBK-500 type cluster bombs,in view of their age the bombs were withdrawn from use during the 1990s and destroyed.[16]

In October 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.”[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 ZakładyMetalowe “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]ZakładyMetalowe “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 TłoczniaMetaliPresstaSpółkaAkcynjna has manufactured 122mm rockets.[23]FabrykaProdukcjiSpecjalnej Sp. z o.o. produces the 122mm M-21FK “FENIKS-Z” and the 122mm “HESYT” rockets.[24] The latter company also produces GKO submunitions.[25] Many 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.[26]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.”[27]

Transfer

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Poland and or Polish companies have not exported any cluster munitions in the period from 2009 through 2011, or in previous years.[28]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.[29]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.[30]