PGZ S.A., JELCZ Sp. z o.o. and PONAR Wadowice S.A. are strengthening their technological cooperation to develop modern wheeled platforms. On 9 September 2026, during the MSPO defence industry exhibition in Kielce, the companies signed a Letter of Intent, paving the way for joint activities in the design, integration, implementation and production of wheeled platforms, as well as the technologies and components forming their key subsystems.
“This agreement covers a very broad scope of cooperation, including research and development work on hydropneumatic suspension systems tailored to the requirements of JELCZ, a key supplier of wheeled platforms to the Polish Armed Forces. PONAR’s expertise in this field is exceptional. To the company’s knowledge, PONAR is one of only three manufacturers of this type of suspension system worldwide,” emphasised Marek Warzecha, President of the Management Board of PONAR Wadowice.
“The importance of this agreement for the parties’ future cooperation can hardly be overstated, particularly because it is based exclusively on collaboration between Polish companies. The future cooperation aims both to advance Polish engineering expertise and to provide a foundation for building stable and, consequently, secure supply chains for the Polish Armed Forces. The anticipated outcome of the parties’ cooperation—the creation of a Polish hydropneumatic wheeled suspension system for heavy vehicles—will also represent a significant technological leap aimed at reducing dependence on foreign suppliers,” President Marek Warzecha concluded.
“The joint initiative by PGZ, JELCZ and PONAR demonstrates that the Polish defence industry has the capabilities required to develop advanced technologies using domestic resources and know-how. Our ambition is to establish comprehensive production capabilities in Poland, ranging from the design and development of key components to the integration of complete systems. In doing so, we are strengthening the security of supply for the Polish Armed Forces, increasing the resilience of the domestic industry and laying the foundations for future modernisation programmes based on Polish technological solutions,” said Arkadiusz Bąk, First Vice-President of the Management Board of Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa.
PONAR Wadowice is Poland’s largest manufacturer of hydraulic components and systems. The company has operated for more than 60 years and employs approximately 800 people, including several hundred engineers and technicians. It works with more than 3,000 customers and suppliers worldwide. Its solutions are used not only in the defence industry but also in the aerospace, railway, energy, mining and shipbuilding sectors.
PONAR already manufactures and installs advanced hydraulic systems used to deploy and level the mast of the P-18 radar station mounted on a JELCZ chassis, as well as components used in the levelling system of the Bystra radar manufactured by PIT-RADWAR, part of the PGZ Group.
The signing of the Letter of Intent coincides with the continued expansion of PONAR’s production capacity. A key element of this expansion is the construction of two modern production facilities in Wadowice and Łaziska Górne. The facility in Łaziska has been designed specifically, among other purposes, for the integration and testing of large-scale radar systems.
“Polish companies not only can but should cooperate wherever this contributes to greater technological self-reliance and reduces our country’s and key economic sectors’ dependence on foreign supplies and patents, particularly in areas as critical as security. We possess the expertise, facilities and potential required to achieve these objectives. The purpose of the tripartite agreement is to provide the Polish defence industry with a complete value chain—from chassis design by JELCZ and advanced control and drive systems supplied by PONAR to system integration within Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa. The prospects for this segment are highly promising: wheeled platforms are playing an increasingly important role in the modernisation of land forces due, among other factors, to their high mobility, ability to travel quickly over long distances and considerable operational flexibility,” said Marek Warzecha.
JELCZ Sp. z o.o. has more than 70 years of experience in vehicle manufacturing, combining tradition with modern technology, and is now part of the PGZ S.A. Capital Group. The company is a leading supplier of chassis for specialised systems used by the Polish Armed Forces. Its portfolio includes approximately 70 chassis configurations deployed in programmes such as WISŁA, NAREW and PILICA.
