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By Barbara Erling and Marek Strzelecki
WARSAW (Reuters) - Firms from Germany, South Korea, Turkey and France are bidding to create an ammunition manufacturing joint venture with Poland, to be signed off in 3-4 months, that could also lead to strategic intergovernmental cooperation, Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk told Reuters.
Poland is leading a European rush to rearm since U.S. President Donald Trump made clear that Washington's readiness to guarantee Europe's security was waning and began courting Russia, which is waging war on Poland's eastern neighbour Ukraine.
Warsaw has earmarked $750 million for the state-owned Polish Armaments Group (PGZ) to boost its output. Tomczyk said that Poland aims to own the technology and licences for the ammunition that the JV produces, which would include 155mm artillery rounds.
Half a dozen firms have submitted bids, and Tomczyk said he expected the ministry to narrow them down to three to negotiate with.
Demand for 155 mm artillery shells has soared since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and European stocks have dwindled as allies have supplied shells to Kyiv.
PGZ wants to scale up annual 155 mm production capacity, currently insufficient, to 150,000 shells in two to three years.
Executives from Turkish state-run defence company MKE last week came to Warsaw with an offer that assumes a complete transfer of 155 mm ammunition production technology, which the Polish defence ministry said "fits current needs".
In the interview, conducted earlier this week, Tomczyk said another consideration in choosing a partner would be potential for an intergovernmental agreement on defence cooperation going beyond ammunition.
He said Germany, France, Sweden and Britain were interested in such a partnership.
"From this perspective it is indeed more interesting, because we can simultaneously consider how to acquire several capabilities in a package, while sealing a very strong political agreement," he said.
Poland on Tuesday said it would allocate 30 billion zloty ($7.71 billion) of post-pandemic European Union recovery funds for defense purposes. It also expects to benefit heavily if a 150 billion euro rearmament fund proposed by Brussels is approved. ($1 = 3.8899 zlotys)
(Reporting by Marek Strzelecki, Barbara Erling, additional reporting Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
