Poland debuts export Borsuk fighting vehicle at IDEB 2026

Poland’s state defense group has unveiled an export variant of its Borsuk infantry fighting vehicle fitted with a Slovak-made Turra 30V9 unmanned turret at the IDEB 2026 defense exhibition in Bratislava, presenting a joint Polish-Slovak product aimed squarely at international markets.

The vehicle was developed as a joint proposal between Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa, specifically its Huta Stalowa Wola subsidiary as the lead consortium member for the Borsuk program, and Czech-Slovak company EVPÚ Defence, through its Slovak division headquartered in Nová Dubnica, which is responsible for the turret systems, according to reporting by Bartłomiej Kucharski in Zbiam.

The IDEB 2026 appearance marks the export Borsuk’s world premiere, combining the Polish New Amphibious Infantry Fighting Vehicle hull with the Turra 30 in its V9 configuration for the first time on a public stage.

The Borsuk itself is Poland’s next-generation amphibious infantry fighting vehicle, developed to replace the aging BMP-1 and BWP-1 platforms in Polish Army service. Built around an aluminum alloy hull with composite armor protection, the Borsuk is fully amphibious and carries a crew of three with room for six infantry dismounts. Poland has been procuring the Borsuk for its own armored forces, and the export variant presented at IDEB represents Huta Stalowa Wola’s attempt to leverage the domestic program into international sales by pairing the Polish hull with a turret architecture that offers buyers flexibility in armament and electronics configuration.

The Turra 30V9 is an unmanned turret — meaning no crew members sit inside it, reducing the turret’s volume requirements and allowing a lower profile while protecting the gunner and commander within the hull below. EVPÚ Defence’s Slovak division developed the Turra 30 family, and the V9 variant demonstrated at IDEB 2026 carries a modern fire control system with hunter-killer capability and independent observation and sighting instruments for both commander and gunner. Hunter-killer functionality allows the commander to search for and designate the next target while the gunner simultaneously engages a current one, significantly increasing the vehicle’s engagement rate in fast-moving combat against multiple threats. The commander’s station incorporates a panoramic sight such as the CMS-1, while the gunner uses the CRANE-XLR or CMS-1G targeting optics, according to Zbiam’s reporting.

The Turra 30V9’s armament centers on the GTS-30/A automatic cannon, which is a modernized variant of the Soviet-era 2A42 produced by ZTS Špeciál and chambered for standard Eastern-bloc 30x165mm ammunition. That ammunition compatibility with Warsaw Pact-standard rounds is a deliberate marketing choice for export customers who already operate post-Soviet equipment and maintain existing ammunition supply chains. Buyers who prefer NATO standardization can opt for the GTS-30/N variant chambered for 30x173mm NATO-standard rounds, or select cannons from the Northrop Grumman Bushmaster II family instead. The turret’s secondary armament includes a coaxial 7.62mm machine gun and a dual launcher for Rafael ADS Spike LR2 anti-tank guided missiles, the latest version of Israel’s widely exported Spike family, capable of engaging targets at ranges exceeding four kilometers in its standard configuration. Protection meets STANAG 4569A Level 3 or Level 4 standards depending on configuration, providing meaningful ballistic protection against heavy machine gun fire and shell fragments.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Robert Kaliniak visited the PGZ stand at IDEB 2026 where the export Borsuk was demonstrated, and were received by Arkadiusz Bąk, First Vice President of PGZ, per Zbiam. The presence of Slovakia’s top government officials at the unveiling of a Polish-Slovak export product carries diplomatic weight beyond a routine trade show visit, signaling that the partnership between PGZ and EVPÚ has political backing at the highest levels of the Slovak government.

The desert camouflage applied to the export Borsuk is not an arbitrary aesthetic choice. EVPÚ Defence holds a strong commercial position in Arab markets and operates a production facility in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, according to Zbiam’s analysis. That existing Saudi industrial presence positions the company as a credible partner for Gulf Cooperation Council procurement, where buyers require local industrial participation as a condition of major defense contracts. A Polish-Slovak IFV combining a modern amphibious hull with a turret backed by Saudi production capacity is a combination that addresses the procurement requirements of Arab military customers more directly than a purely European product without local manufacturing ties.