“As early as May, in the situation that ‘Łucznik’ has found itself in, this workplace faces layoffs of 140 employees. This is a picture of a state that has stopped placing orders,” said on Monday at a press conference held in front of the plant belonging to the Polish Armaments Group, Vice President of Law and Justice (PiS) Przemysław Czarnek. He assured that the government has the funds for orders but is deliberately not placing them.
Last week, media reported on the dire situation at the “Łucznik” Firearms Factory in Radom, which is part of the Polish Armaments Group. Despite developing new capabilities and making investments in recent years, it is not receiving orders from the Ministry of National Defence, which may ultimately lead to layoffs.
On Monday, a press conference was organized in front of the factory by Vice President of Law and Justice (PiS) Przemysław Czarnek.
“Since 2017, the Polish state has commissioned the production of 230,000 GROT rifles at this facility – even more – for approximately PLN 2 billion. In addition, the Polish state ordered around 50,000 units of the Vis 100 pistol from this plant. This created significant development potential for the facility,” he said during the meeting with the media.
He added that thanks to these orders, investments worth around PLN 100 million were carried out, significantly increasing the plant’s production capacity. He also recalled that the GROT rifle subsequently became the standard rifle of the Polish Army.
“Thanks to these investments, the Radom-based ‘Łucznik’ increased its revenues fourfold, and its net profit even thirteenfold. All of this is a picture from the period of Law and Justice (PiS) governance,” he said.
Czarnek pointed out that after the change of power, the situation of the plant changed dramatically. – “The last government orders are now coming to an end. In May, there will be no more orders. As early as May, in the situation that ‘Łucznik’ has found itself in, this workplace faces layoffs of 140 employees. This is a picture of a state that has stopped placing orders. This is a state that boasts the highest defense spending, yet does not place orders with Polish arms manufacturers – and this is not just about ‘Łucznik’. Even at Huta Stalowa Wola, 1,400 Borsuk vehicles were supposed to be produced, but there are only 111, because that is the number of orders,” he said.
“There are no orders and there will be none. The question is – why? Do the employees of ‘Łucznik’, with excellent technical and engineering expertise, outstanding experience, and production capabilities, have to rely solely on the mercy of the government? As the employees of ‘Łucznik’ rightly say, they do not need mercy or empty slogans – they simply need orders. And why is the government not placing orders, while boasting about having the highest defense spending among NATO countries relative to GDP? Because there is no money,” he stated.
The Vice President of Law and Justice (PiS) noted that previous PiS governments developed “financial instruments that enabled rapid armament and investments in the Polish defense industry”. – “Among them is the Armed Forces Support Fund, which is set to allocate PLN 79 billion this year. Last year it was slightly less, but both last year and the year before – note this – around PLN 20 billion remained unused by the government of Tusk and Kosiniak-Kamysz from the Armed Forces Support Fund. PLN 20 billion was left unspent,” he pointed out.
As he calculated, in its current state, “Łucznik” needs orders for 40,000 GROT rifles per year, which would cost PLN 350-400 million.
“Why, out of the PLN 20 billion in the Armed Forces Support Fund last year and the year before, was no order placed at ‘Łucznik’? Why are Polish companies and the Polish defense industry being left without state orders? Because this is a deliberate action of the Polish state under the governments of Tusk, Kosiniak-Kamysz, Civic Platform (KO), New Left, Polish People’s Party (PSL), and Polska 2050 Party. To destroy the Polish defense industry,” he said.