The Swedish armed forces have received their first Piorun manportable air defence systems (MANPADS) developed by Polish company Mesko, the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) announced on 27 January 2026.
The first examples of the Piorun system, which is Swedish service will be known as the RBS 102, were actually handed over in December 2025, just three months after the FMV placed an SEK 3 billion (EUR 280 million) Piorun order with Mesko during the DSEI defence exhibition in London in September 2025.
This was the result of an expedited acquisition process under which, in December 2025, FMV and Swedish armed forces officials travelled together to the supplier in Poland, where they carried out a joint delivery check of the equipment. The FMV then approved the delivery from the supplier and handed over the equipment directly to the armed forces, who then transported it home.
The Piorun system (the name of which means ‘Lightning’ in Polish) entered service with the Polish armed forces in 2019 as a modernised version of the Grom (‘Thunder’) MANPADS.
Using an infra-red homing seeker, the Piorun missile, which travels at an average speed of 560 m/s, has a longitudinal range of from 400 m to 6,500 m and an altitude range of from 10 m to 4,000 m. The Piorun missile’s fragmentation – high explosive warhead features a fuze equipped with a proximity sensor, maximising the chances of destroying the intended target. Weighing 16.5 kg with a length of 1.6 m, the Piorun can be carried and fired by a single operator.
Piorun systems were provided by Poland to Ukraine in 2022 following the Russian invasion of that country and were used to successfully used to shoot down a variety of Russian aircraft, including helicopters and jet combat aircraft such as Su-34s and Su-25s.
While proven to be effective in combat, Piorun systems are also less expensive than other MANPADS competitors.
As well as being in service with Polish and Ukrainian forces and now the Swedish Army, the Piorun MANPADS has been ordered for the armed forces of Belgium, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway and the United States.
