A new heavy infantry fighting vehicle under development in Poland is signaling a strategic shift toward greater armor protection and survivability on the modern battlefield. The vehicle, designated Ratel, is designed to resist direct fire from medium-caliber artillery systems, including 30mm autocannons, at ranges of up to 500 meters.
Weighing roughly 42 tons in its standard configuration, Ratel has been engineered with a 6-ton growth margin, allowing the vehicle’s combat weight to increase to 48 tons. This capacity enables future upgrades such as additional passive armor, active protection systems, and mission-adapted equipment, ensuring long-term adaptability as threat environments evolve.
Ratel closely mirrors the architecture of the Borsuk IFV, leveraging shared components to improve logistics and fleet sustainment. Both platforms feature the same pneumatic-hydraulic suspension, seven-road-wheel layout, and an upgraded 1,070-horsepower MTU diesel engine, providing high mobility despite increased armor levels.
The IFV will be armed with Poland’s ZSSW-30 unmanned combat module, reinforcing fleet-wide standardization of weapons and sensors. Ratel is expected to support Poland’s wider armored vehicle modernization program, which calls for over 1,400 new vehicles, including more than 1,000 IFVs, with prototype trials planned by the end of 2026.
