Page:CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070028-8.pdf/13

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070028-8


equipment is located at the various institutes of PAN. The university research laboratories lack much of the latest research equipment, but when conducting research for the PAN, the university investigators have easy access to PAN equipment. The Polish Government especially encourages joint research projects with counterparts in other countries which have good experimental facilities, regardless of whether they are in Eastern or Western Europe. Probably the best equipment Poland has is located at the Institute of Nuclear Research. It has ion integrators, nuclear research reactors, glass (neodymium) lasers, mass spectrometers, and an improved CDC 6400 "Cybor 72" computer. Polish industry has developed equipment for conducting spectroscopic-related research. The Poles have designed and constructed a high-pressure reaction vessel for studies of electroparamagnetic resonance and cryogenic equipment for superconductivity developments.


D. Major research fields

1. Air, ground, and naval weapons (S)

Poland has attempted only limited development and production of native weaponry and material. As a result, the country has not developed the expertise and experience needed to plan, initiate, and manage the research and development of advanced weapon systems. Much of the weapon-related research that Poland does conduct is directed towards supporting Soviet classified programs, although the country receives the reciprocal support from the U.S.S.R.

Research and development capabilities are strongest in the aerospace field but are limited to the design and production of light transport and jet trainer aircraft, helicopters, and meteorological rockets. Although Poland lacks the necessary research base to develop and produce advanced aircraft systems, its aeronautical industry is, nevertheless, very active and remains an important sector of the national economy. Poland is a principal supplier of jet trainer and general aviation-type aircraft, engines, gliders, and aircraft instruments to Warsaw Pact nations and also exports to at least 40 other countries.

A new long-term agreement between Poland and the U.S.S.R. signed in 1972 indicates that Polish aircraft development capabilities can be expected to improve significantly during the coming decade. The agreement provides for mutual cooperation between the two countries in the design, manufacture, and marketing of aircraft. The reported terms of the agreement also indicate a growing emphasis on indigenous Polish design and development of certain types of aircraft, with Soviet technical assistance, and a corresponding decline in the licensed production of Soviet aircraft in Polish factories. Light aircraft for agricultural and general utility roles, helicopters, gliders, and powered gliders will be emphasized in the new program. It appears unlikely that Poland will develop a capability for advanced aeronautical research and development beyond that required of a light aircraft industry. Since 1969 activities in the aeronautical sciences have been of an academic nature with emphasis on theoretical investigations of boundary layer formation and heat transfer in supersonic flow. Shock tubes are used in the investigations, and the works appears to be broad in scope but with no apparent direct application to weapon system design.

Polish research in rocket-associated technologies has been confined to the development of solid propellant motors for artillery and meteorological applications. Emphasis has been on double-base propellants. Generally, combustion research of a fundamental nature has been carried out at the universities, while most of the applied work has been accomplished at the Aeronautical Institute. Studies in liquid propellants are limited.

Although the U.S.S.R. has successfully discouraged Poland from establishing an independent missile research and development capability, the country, nevertheless, has derived some technical benefits from the Soviet missiles that are deployed operationally in Poland. These include the surface-to-air GUIDELINE and GOA missiles and quite possibly the GANEF system; the shore-to-ship SAMLET, the ship-to-ship STYX; and the anti-tank SNAPPER, SWATTER, and SAGGER systems.

Poland has only a meager capability to undertake the design and development of space systems. Space-related activity is limited to the development and launching of upper atmospheric sounding rockets and ground-based observation of rockets, as well as foreign-launched earth satellites. Besides developing the Meteor series rockets, Poland has designed and produced equipment for use in Soviet-launched geophysical vertical probes. This equipment consists of X-ray spectroheliographs and a system of X-ray pinhole cameras.

There are 12 optical satellite ground tracking stations being operated by the Polish Artificial Earth Satellite Observation Service. Initially, these stations were capable only of making and reporting observations; however, they can now accomplish some analysis and evaluation of the collected data. Information and data obtained from these stations are


7


APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070028-8