APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070028-8
forwarded to the Soviet Kosmos data center in Moscow.
Poland has a minor capability for research and development of ground force weapons and has apparently not achieved any highly significant results. Poland and Czechoslovakia have collaborated on an 8-wheeled amphibious armored personnel carrier (APC), the OT-64 series. This APC fulfills the same function in their armies as the BTR-60P series in the Soviet Army. Initially, vehicles of this series were equipped with a truncated cone turret of Soviet design. This turret did not provide the desired antiaircraft defense for their field forces and was redesigned by the Poles to provide an increased antiaircraft capability. The Poles are not known to be active in research and development on tanks and self-propelled guns. Some research is underway on transport vehicles and engineer and quartermaster equipment. Poland has only a modest capability for research and development of military transport vehicles. At present, the country is heavily dependent on the Soviet Union for its military transport fleet, importing a wide range of vehicles. Engineer-type equipment on which significant research has been accomplished consists of bridging and stream-crossing equipment and topographic instruments. Polish Army engineers have recently developed a new ribbon bridge, designated PP-64, and a bridge erection boat, designated KH-200. In the field of air-cushioned vehicles, Poland has an extensive program underway, second only to the U.S.S.R. among the Communist countries. Model testing is emphasized and a few small skirted prototypes for civilian applications have been built.
In the development of topographic instrumentation, Poland has a small but significant research and development capability in comparison with other Warsaw Pact countries. The Poles are highly accomplished in the development of electronic-geodetic distance-measuring equipment. Their latest model, the RG-10 (Figure 2), is a fully transistorized radio distance-measuring instrument and is used for precision geodetic surveys. It was adapted and tested successfully in 1970 for hydrographic operations. To this equipment was added in 1972 two new electro-optical geodetic distance-measuring instruments, the telemeters PA1 and DU1. These are of military interest because their radiation is in the invisible infrared. There also has been military involvement in the development of experimental image conversion devices for standard optical surveying equipment to enable their use at night with targets that either radiate in the invisible infrared (passive systems) or which are eliminated by projected infrared light (active systems). The rather secretive Polish research and development program for medium- and small-capacity computers has led to the development of two small special-purpose computer models for geodetic computations. Some research is underway on military clothing and individual equipment, including such items as combat camouflage clothing for ground and airborne troops; garments and helmets for aircrews and tankers; and a multipurpose poncho-type garment for chemical, biological, radiological, and environmental protection.
FIGURE 2. Polish-developed telemeter (U/OU) (picture)
The Poles continue to demonstrate a competency to design and produce amphibious landing ships, small combatants, and miscellaneous naval auxiliaries. The country has designed and built a number of amphibious landing ships, oceanographic survey ships, and auxiliaries for use in the Soviet and other Communist Bloc navies. Research is underway on plastic hull construction and gas turbine propulsion. Poland is the most active East European country in the design and manufacture of diving and underwater
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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070028-8
