"The construction of a second radioelectronic reconnaissance vessel has started today; we are strengthening the Polish Navy!," Minister Mariusz Blaszczak wrote on the X platform on Wednesday, adding that both vessels would increase naval intelligence capabilities.
Mariusz Błaszczak/X

Poland’s acting defence minister has announced that the construction of a second radioelectronic reconnaissance vessel for the Polish Navy has already begun.

“The construction of a second radioelectronic reconnaissance vessel has started today; we are strengthening the Polish Navy!,” Minister Mariusz Blaszczak wrote on the X platform on Wednesday, adding that both vessels would increase naval intelligence capabilities.

In April, the Polish Defence Ministry reported that work had started on the first radioelectronic reconnaissance vessel as part of the Dolphin programme for the Polish Navy. In July, Blaszczak wrote that its construction “commenced with a steel-cutting ceremony in Gdansk, northern Poland.”

Under a deal signed in November 2022 by the Polish Defence Ministry’s Armament Agency, Saab, a shipbuilding company based in Sweden, is to design and build two signals intelligence (SIGINT) ships for the Polish Navy. The ships will be built at the Polish shipbuilder Remontowa Shipbuilding shipyard located in Gdansk, northern Poland.

The value of the contract totals EUR 620 million.

The ships, which are to be delivered in 2027, are designated for reconnaissance operations, encompassing the examination of their respective regions, along with the compilation of information benefiting their naval forces and intelligence operations.