The first speaker was the Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of National Defence, Minister Tomasz Szatkowski, who emphasized that the development and modernization of the Polish Navy is a priority for the current Government of the Republic of Poland. The Forum is already attracting strong interest and has regular participants. This year, more than 200 people took part from various institutions shaping policy for the development of the maritime sector in Poland, the development and technical modernization of the Polish Navy, as well as companies offering products and systems for newly built or modernized Navy vessels.

KenBIT had the honor to participate in this year’s Forum. Among the many speakers, KenBIT President Dariusz Koenig presented a talk titled “A PROPOSAL FOR DIGITALIZING THE NAVY’S TACTICAL COMMUNICATIONS,” outlining the direction and development opportunities for the Navy’s tactical communications systems in the context of their digitalization. The President stressed that the Polish Navy was the first branch of the Armed Forces to achieve full interoperability with other NATO navies already in the first years after Poland joined NATO. However, the way the existing communications assets are used has practically not changed since Poland joined NATO. The vessels have been equipped with new radios, modems, and allied cryptographic voice security devices. The lack of standardization in the hardware architecture of tactical communications equipment across all Polish Navy ships—and thus the use of its modern functionality and technical capabilities—is due to insufficient funding. The Polish Navy is trying to “move forward,” and in this regard KenBIT presented development opportunities for tactical communications systems over HF/VHF/UHF radio networks, in terms of digitalizing telecom services.

The Forum provides an opportunity for discussion, exchanging views, experiences, and suggestions regarding modern solutions offered by Polish industry companies and foreign partners for the technical modernization of the Polish Navy. The Warsaw Trade Fairs Management Board and the Naval Academy should be congratulated for the idea and initiative to organize such an event, as well as for the success the Forum has already achieved. As can be seen, the Forum has already secured a place in the annual calendar of the maritime industry.