HSW presented the Baobab-K truck-mounted scatterable mine-laying system prototype in a video on 1 February. (HSW)
Huta Stalowa Wola (HSW) presented the final prototype of the Baobab-K truck-mounted scatterable mine-laying system in a video on 1 February. The video shows the mine-cassette loading process and mine-laying operations on the factory training ground.
The system is undergoing qualification trials to certify the final prototype. The Polish Armaments Inspectorate (now Armaments Agency) awarded the PLN19.95 million (USD5 million) Baobab-K prototype development contract to HSW in December 2018. Krzysztof Cedrowski of HSW told Janes on 2 February that development is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.
Baobab-K is an automated system that can lay minefields of various sizes and densities. The platform is being developed by a consortium of Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa (PGZ) subsidiaries HSW, Jelcz, and Belma; Poland's Military University of Technology; and WB Group. The system is mounted on a Jelcz 662D.43 8×8 high-mobility truck chassis with an armoured cabin and six launchers. However, Cedrowski said HSW can offer a tracked Baobab-G based on HSW's hydro-pneumatic chassis. The vehicle can carry 600 Belma MN-123.1 and MN-123.2 programmable anti-tank mines.
The minefield laying process is fully automated, with a computer calculating the speed of the vehicle and mine-launcher settings and adjusting the mine-launching rate while the vehicle is moving.
WB Group-affiliated companies are delivering electromechanical systems, communications (RRC9311AP radios and FONET intercom), and TOPAZ Tactics minefield management systems, the latter of which allows the recording of minefield parameters and the co-ordinates of minefield corners on digital maps. All data is then sent via radio link to a higher command level.
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