Poland showcases Poprad air defense vehicle as part of evolving drone defense strategy.

Poland showcased its operational Poprad very short-range air defense system fleet integrated within a rapidly scaling counter-UAS sensor architecture at the MSPO 2026 exhibition in Kielce. The 79-vehicle fleet combines mobile launchers equipped with Grom and Piorun missiles with external radars to intercept low-altitude aerial threats. This capability highlights ongoing efforts to expand layered ground-based air defense networks across military formations.

Each Poprad vehicle carries four ready-to-fire missiles and four internal reloads, utilizing an integrated electro-optical head, thermal imaging, and laser rangefinder for target engagement. The system operates alongside wider surveillance networks like the ZDPSR Soła and Łowcza-3 command units to coordinate short-range air defense coverage.

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The Poprad is a Polish 4×4 VSHORAD vehicle carrying four ready-to-fire Grom or Piorun infrared-guided missiles, plus four reloads, to engage aircraft, helicopters, and UAVs at up to 6.5 km in range and 4 km in altitude. (Picture source: Army Recognition)

On September 10, 2026, Poland displayed the Poprad very short-range air defence (VSHORAD) system at MSPO 2026, as the country's 79-vehicle fleet is now integrated within a counter-UAS architecture expanding rapidly toward hundreds of sensors and firing vehicles. Delivered from 2018 to December 14, 2021, each Poprad carries four ready Grom or Piorun missiles and four reloads, giving the fleet a capacity for 632 missiles when fully loaded. Each vehicle combines a 360° electro-optical head, thermal and daylight cameras, laser rangefinder, IFF, fire-control computer, navigation and communications, while external radars provide wider surveillance. The Grom covers 500 to 5,500 m horizontally and 10 to 3,500 m vertically; the Piorun increases those limits to 400 to 6,500 m and 10 to 4,000 m. The Poprad's relevance at MSPO therefore comes from an architecture already separating sensors from mobile shooters, a principle Poland is now scaling through its SAN for mass drone defense.

The Poprad emerged in 2000 as the PP-G project developed by Wojskowe Zakłady Mechaniczne and WITU, initially using a Land Rover Defender 110 chassis while the BRDM-2 was considered as a carrier. Renamed Poprad in 2002, the project subsequently involved CNPEP Radwar, the Military University of Technology, Mesko, and Telesystem-Mesko, with a prototype based on an Iveco 40.13 WM completed in 2003 and tested through January 2005. Carrier development then moved through the Dzik-P before Poland selected the AMZ Żubr in 2007; the first Żubr-P Poprad appeared at MSPO 2008. Two prototypes were ordered in November 2010, chassis changes followed testing through 2013, and repeat acceptance trials from September 15 to November 21, 2014 cleared the VSHORAD vehicle for serial production in 2015. Serial production began in 2015, operational deliveries started in 2018, and the 79th vehicle was delivered on December 14, 2021, meaning the final system followed at least four principal carrier approaches before the program was completed.

Each Poprad has four ready-to-fire missiles on its roof, and four reloads inside the vehicle, so only half of its eight-round onboard capacity is immediately available. The Grom weighs 10.5 kg, measures 1,686 mm, and carries a 1.35 kg warhead with passive infrared guidance and solid-propellant propulsion; its portable system weighs 16.5 kg, and missile self-destruction occurs after 14 to 17.5 seconds. The Piorun, developed from 2010 to 2015, introduced a modified seeker, greater countermeasure resistance, night capability, and a proximity fuze in addition to the impact fuze. Maximum range increased by 1,000 m from 5.5 to 6.5 km, or 18%, while maximum altitude increased by 500 m from 3.5 to 4 km, or 14%, and minimum engagement distance fell from 500 to 400 m. The Poprad first fired the Piorun in 2020, extending the engagement envelope without replacing the Żubr-P launcher vehicles.

The Poprad does not carry a search radar, reducing duplication between individual launchers and the wider air defense sensor network. Its stabilized weapon station combines four missile rails with a thermal imager, a PCO KTVD-1 daylight camera, a L5LUR laser rangefinder and an automatic tracker; early vehicles used Sagem Matis thermal imagers. The station traverses 360°, elevates from -10° to +70° and moves at up to 100° per second, corresponding mechanically to 1.8 seconds for a 180° azimuth movement at maximum rate. IFF, inertial and satellite navigation, and the fire control computer are integrated into the vehicle. External radar tracks can therefore cue the launcher before a target reaches the Piorun engagement boundary, after which the Poprad conducts local optical identification, ranging, tracking and missile employment.

The ZDPSR Soła supplies surveillance and target tracks, while information can reach the Poprad through VHF radio or wired communications. The Łowcza-3 provides automated command functions at regiment or battalion level, while the Rega distributes the air picture and target indications from battery down to individual firing elements. The arrangement does not increase missile range: a target detected beyond 6.5 km remains outside the Piorun's engagement envelope, but earlier detection provides time to assign a launcher, orient its head, and prepare the engagement before the target enters range. The Poprad can also operate without external cueing by searching with its electro-optical sensors, preserving a local firing capability if communications are interrupted. The system therefore combines networked target assignment with autonomous terminal engagement rather than making either mode mandatory.

The Żubr-P integrates the complete Poprad firing unit into a 6.95 m long, 2.45 m wide and 2.65 m high 4×4 armored vehicle with 320 mm ground clearance. Its Iveco Tector NEF N60 ENT C engine produces 202 kW (275 hp); its payload capacity reaches 2,000 kg, and its maximum trailer weight reaches 1,500 kg, while the vehicle was dimensioned for C-130 transport. The two-person crew consists of a commander/operator and driver because missiles, sensors, fire control, navigation, and communications are carried together. During movement, the launcher retracts beneath roof covers and rises again after deployment. An auxiliary power unit and batteries can operate the mission equipment without continuously running the main engine.

The Poprad serves with the 8th Koszalin, 4th Zielona Góra, 15th Gołdap and 18th Anti-Aircraft Regiments, as well as the 21st Podhale Rifles, 12th Mechanized, 15th Giżycko Mechanized, 17th Greater Poland Mechanized, 19th Lublin Mechanized and 20th Bartoszyce Mechanized Brigades; the Air Force Training Center is an eleventh named organization associated with the system. This distribution places the VSHORAD directly inside maneuver formations rather than exclusively in specialized anti-aircraft regiments. At fleet level, 316 ready missiles theoretically correspond to 316 single-missile engagements or 158 two-missile engagements before vehicle-level reloads are considered, illustrating the magazine constraint created when missile-based VSHORAD encounters large numbers of UAVs.

That constraint helps explain Poland's 2026 move toward the SAN, which adds engagement options below the Piorun missile tier. The SAN covers 18 batteries, 52 officially cited firing platoons, 18 command platoons and 703 vehicles, including 18 35 mm systems, 54 30 mm systems, 54 12.7 mm stations, 54 70 mm APKWS launchers and 18 interceptor-UAS launchers. Its published sensor inventory totals 180 radars: 18 Xenta-M, 54 Fieldctrl Ultra and 108 Fieldctrl Follow, equivalent to one, three and six respectively per battery if distributed evenly. Poland also activated a Border Guard counter-UAS module worth more than PLN 60 million at Ozierany Wielkie on March 12, 2026.

MSPO also showed the >6-km supersonic MBDA-WITU Counter Mass Interceptor, the >1-km Syland anti-FPV laser, and Wuefkin with a 4D radar and six-round interceptor-UAS launcher. Poland had contracted roughly PLN 25 billion in unmanned and counter-UAS projects by June 2026, compared with PLN 250 million in 2023, while PLN 44.2 billion under SAFE covers the broader air/missile defense, unmanned, and counter-UAS category. The Poprad consequently represents the earlier missile-based distributed-shooter model, while the SAN adds radar density, electronic warfare, guns, guided rockets, and interceptor drones to increase magazine depth and avoid allocating Piorun-class missiles to every low-cost UAV.

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Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, South Korea, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.