Poland Unveils 40-Ton Heavy IFV Demonstrator as Soviet-Era BWP-1s Still Make Up 69% of Its IFV Fleet

Poland's state-owned defense group PGZ and its subsidiary Huta Stalowa Wola (HSW) unveiled a technology demonstrator of a heavy infantry fighting vehicle on September 8 at the MSPO defense exhibition in Kielce, Poland, according to Janes and Breaking Defense. The vehicle, officially named Ciężki Bojowy Wóz Piechoty (CBWP, "heavy infantry fighting vehicle"), had been shown only as a 1:4 scale model at the same show in 2025.

A PGZ representative told Defense News the platform weighs "between 40 and 43 tons, which maximizes troop protection." Janes puts the combat weight at more than 40 tons depending on the configuration of its modular armor. The chassis is derived from HSW's lighter Borsuk IFV but redesigned for the heavy requirement, with seven road-wheel pairs supplied by the Polish company PONAR, a powerpack rated at over 1,000 hp, a top speed of up to 65 km/h and a range of up to 500 km, Janes reported.

Breaking Defense reported that the CBWP carries a crew of three and up to eight dismounted troops. It mounts the unmanned ZSSW-30 turret with a 30 mm cannon and Spike anti-tank missiles, carries an OBRA-3 laser warning system, and can be fitted with an optional active protection system.

The single demonstrator is entering factory trials. Two fully functional prototypes are expected in 2027, and serial production could begin in 2029, according to Breaking Defense and Defense News. Defense News reported that about 700 vehicles are planned for the Polish Army, and that Poland's defense minister named the vehicle one of the Polish industry's potential "flagship export products."

The heavy IFV is being developed alongside the Borsuk rather than in its place. The Polish defense ministry has ordered 257 Borsuks to date under a 2023 framework agreement envisaging up to 1,400 vehicles in several variants, Defense News reported. The first executive contract, signed on March 28, 2025, covered 111 vehicles worth about 6.57 billion zloty, with deliveries scheduled from 2025 to 2029. Army Technology describes the Borsuk as aiming "to replace the outdated Soviet-era BWP-1s."

That replacement is at an early stage. According to GlobalMilitary.net's inventory data for 2026, the Polish Army's inventory of infantry fighting vehicles in active service comprises 916 BWP-1, the Polish designation of the Soviet BMP-1, alongside 395 wheeled KTO Rosomak, based on the Patria AMV, with 173 more on order, and 20 Borsuk. Of the 1,331 vehicles in that fleet, the BWP-1 accounts for 69 percent. That total counts only the Borsuks already delivered, not the 257 on order, and the 916 BWP-1s are GlobalMilitary.net's 2026 inventory figure, not an official count.

The BMP-1 was adopted by the Soviet Army in 1966. It weighs about 13.2 tons, is armed with a 73 mm low-pressure gun and carries eight troops, the same dismount capacity as the CBWP, which is roughly three times its weight.

No other NATO army fields the type in comparable numbers. GlobalMilitary.net's data record 141 BMP-1A1 Ost in service with Greece, 124 MLI-84M Jderul, a Romanian BMP-1 derivative, with Romania, 90 BMP-1 with Bulgaria and 86 with Slovakia (69 BVP-1 and 17 BVP-M, with a further 206 BMP-1s in storage). Those four fleets total 441 vehicles, so Poland's 916 is more than twice the rest of the alliance combined.

Worldwide, Poland's fleet ranks among the largest of the BMP-1 family. China operates 1,250 ZBD-86/86A, Chinese-built copies of the design, and Russia fields 750 BMP-1 plus 700 BRM-1K reconnaissance variants, according to GlobalMilitary.net's inventory data. Behind them come Poland's 916, then Turkmenistan with 604 and Iraq with 600.

The MSPO show closes on September 11. For the CBWP, the next milestones are the two prototypes due in 2027 and a possible start of serial production in 2029; Borsuk deliveries under the first executive contract are scheduled to run until the same year.