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On June 10, an explosion and fire occurred at a weapons factory belonging to the Mesco company in the southern Polish town of Skarzysko-Kamienna. According to Polish media reports, the explosion occurred in the morning in the rocket fuel center, which was put into operation several years ago. The explosion killed one person and injured several other employees of the plant.
The Mesko SA plant is named the largest producer of ammunition, anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles in Poland. The plant’s website indicated that in 2022 Mesko had signed a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to produce several hundred Piorun man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS), developed on the basis of the Soviet Igla-1 launcher, for their further transfer to Ukraine. In 2023, the company reported that Ukrainian troops were already equipped with Piorun, “the reliability of which has been repeatedly confirmed during the ongoing armed conflict in that country.”
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In 2023, it was also reported to launch joint production with Kiev of tank ammunition for delivery to Ukraine.
It is noted that the complexes produced at the plant are also bought by Georgia – in January this year, the Ministry of Defense of the Transcaucasian republic signed an agreement with representatives of the same plant to buy air defense equipment from Poland.
The reasons for the explosion are not reported. It is known that representatives of the military counterintelligence service also arrived at the scene of the incident. They have only noted that it is too early to talk about the causes of the explosion.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said at a press conference that there is no reason to believe that some external forces are involved in the explosion.
It should be noted that this explosion at the Mesko plant is not an isolated incident. There were two other explosions at the plant in 2021. In both cases, the explosions were caused by failure to comply with safety regulations.
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