The company, which has benefited from a surge in Polish defense spending resulting from Russia’s war on Ukraine, came in at 62 in the “Top 100 for 2024” ranking organized by Defense News.
Weapons sales by the leading 100 firms rose by 2% in 2023 to $65 bn, according to the ranking, which is dominated by American and Chinese suppliers. The financial data of Russian firms, however, was not considered reliable enough for them to be included.
The Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita said that the sales of the state-owned PGZ should increase in 2024 due to upcoming orders for Borsuk combat vehicles and Krab self-propelled howitzers, worth nearly a billion dollars in total.
The paper added that the second-largest Polish manufacturer, the WB Group, which produces weapons control systems and defense IT solutions, should reach the top 100 in 2024 owing to its current rate of growth. The group’s sales hit $400,000 in 2023, a 100% increase compared to the previous year.
While sales to the Polish armed forces were high due to increases in domestic military spending, a UN report on the trade in conventional arms in June said that Polish weapons exports in 2023 were low and limited mainly to unsophisticated arms or ammunition.
The exceptions were the Krab and the Piorun, a shoulder-launched air-defense missile, which have been sold to Ukraine, Latvia, and Estonia.
All of the 18 Krabs which were exported last year by the Polish Armaments Group factory in Stalowa Wola in southern Poland went to Ukraine, and a further 18 are ordered for this year.
Defense24, a Polish defense news website, reported that it would take time for the factory to increase production capacity due to the need to source more specialized parts from its subcontractors. The total capacity of the Stalowa Wola plant could be raised to 150 Krabs a year, it added.
