US embassy cable - 05WARSAW3410

S E C R E T WARSAW 003410 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NP/ECNP:YWONG AND EUR/PRA:TYEAGER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/14/2015 
TAGS: PARM, PREL, ETTC, MASS, PL, LY, IN, Weapons Sales 
SUBJECT: POLISH RESPONSE REGARDING WEAPONS SALES TO 
INDONESIA AND LIBYA 
 
REF: STATE 164967 
 
1. (S) SUMMARY.  Embassy delivered reftel demarche to 
Ministry of Economy (MOE) and MFA officials responsible for 
export controls.  Both ministries confirmed that there was an 
agreement with Indonesia for sale of the Kobra air defense 
system to Indonesia, but there were as yet no applications 
for export.  According to the MOE, the Poprad missiles in the 
Kobra system can only be re-converted to MANPADS use by the 
Polish firm responsible for the original conversion, Radvar. 
Regarding Libya, MFA said that, although Polish defense 
contractors had accompanied PM Belka to Tripoli earlier this 
year, there were no current plans for any sales of lethal 
military equipment (LME) to Libya.  END SUMMARY. 
 
 
INDONESIA 
--------- 
2. (S) PolMilOff met September 9 with Jacek Sliwowski 
Director of the MOE Export Controls Departments, which is 
Poland's Export Licensing Authority to discuss reftel 
demarche on weapons sales to Indonesia and Libya.  Sliwowski 
confirmed that there was an agreement with the GOI allowing 
the eventual sale of the Kobra air defense system to 
Indonesia, but added the caveat that his office had to date 
received no application for such a transaction.  He expected 
that Bumar, one of Poland's leading defense contractors, 
would probably manage the sale. 
 
3. (S) Sliwowski confirmed that the "Kobra" system consisted 
of a vehicle platform mounted with four "Poprad" surface to 
air launchers.  The starting point is the "Grom" MANPADS 
system manufactured by the Polish firm Mesko.  Another Polish 
firm, Radvar, then takes a newly produced "Grom," strips its 
man-portable launcher and triggering mechanism, and installs 
it in the "Poprad" vehicle launcher, with its own triggering 
mechanism.  According to Sliwowski only Radvar can re-convert 
the missiles to MANPADS use.  Sliwowski attempted to contact 
Radvar by telephone to request precise technical 
specifications, but was unable to reach them.  However, MOE 
stands ready to serve as an intermediary in requesting the 
specifications, and Sliwowski suggested that in theory it 
should not be difficult to obtain them if Department so 
wishes. 
 
4. (S) In a separate meeting September 12 with PolMil Chief, 
Andrzej Morstin of the Export Controls Office in the MFA 
Security Policy Department confirmed the MOE information.  He 
added that the GOP did not expect any Poprad sales to 
Indonesia to be completed before 2006 or 2007. 
 
LIBYA 
----- 
5. (S) Turning to Libya, Sliwowski said that he was unaware 
of any plans for Poprad sales to the GOL.  Various Polish 
firms had expressed interest in contracts to maintain Libya's 
Warsaw Pact inventory, but MOE did not know of any plans to 
sell lethal military equipment (LME) to Libya.  He expressed 
great interest in cooperating closely with U.S. export 
control authorities to make sure that no Polish transaction 
ran afoul of U.S. laws. 
 
6. (S) Morstin told PolMilOff separately that MFA was well 
aware of U.S. policy on LME transfers to Libya.  He echoed 
Sliwowski that there were no applications for any such sales, 
and added that MFA would not approve them if they were 
received.  He confirmed that Polish firms had accompanied PM 
Belka to Tripoli, but stressed that the focus of their 
interest was assisting the GOL with weapons decommissioning 
and destruction, particularly with regard to chemical weapons. 
Ashe