The first agreement entails the delivery of 24 automated mine-laying vehicles along with a logistics and training package. The order is valued at approximately PLN 510 million gross (approximately EUR 115 million), and vehicle deliveries will take place between 2026 and 2028.
The second agreement covers the delivery of over 10,000 ISM mine cassettes with MN-123 erratic mines, several hundred mine cassettes with training erratic mines MN-123/C, and over 6,000 anti-tank mines for manual deployment (MR-123). The contract value amounts to about PLN 566 million gross (approximately EUR 126 million), with deliveries scheduled from 2023 to 2026.
Baobab-K is a new automated mine-laying system under development by the Polish defence company Huta Stalowa Wola (HSW) and its partners. The system is designed to create scattered anti-tank barrier minefields of various sizes, densities, and self-destruction times.
A consortium led by Huta Stalowa Wola (HSW) and including Jelcz, BELMA, WB Group, and the Military Institute of Engineering is responsible for the system’s development.
Baobab-K is a mine-laying system mounted on trucks, which can be controlled from a ground control station. Its design is based on a Jelcz 8×8 truck chassis, known for its high mobility and payload capacity.
The system’s fully automated process allows for quick transitioning between transport and combat modes. The vehicle can be equipped with six launchers (mine throwers) capable of carrying MN-123.1 and MN-123.2 programmable anti-tank mines manufactured by BELMA. A crane is utilized for loading and unloading the mine throwers onto the ammunition vehicle.
A single mine cassette accommodates five anti-tank mines, and each launcher can be equipped with 20 cassettes, enabling a vehicle to carry up to 600 mines. The system can also be fitted with eight 81mm smoke grenade launchers.
Designed to be operated by tactical-level engineering sub-units of the armed forces, the mine-laying system can be deployed to neutralize armored and other vehicles.
The control system allows for mine-laying control and supervision of the process in both automatic and manual modes. In automatic mode, an onboard computer calculates parameters such as vehicle speed and launcher settings, as well as adjusts the frequency of mine launching while in motion.
The vehicle integrates a new information and communication technology (ICT) system, which enables the visualization of a minefield on a digital map displayed on the computer screen.
