Mariusz Błaszczak announced the arrival of the Italian air-defence ship on Saturday morning, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The defence minister said in a tweet: “The Italian allied guided-missile destroyer ITS Caio Duilio has arrived in Poland, equipped with powerful anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapons, to strengthen the defence of the Polish coast and the protection of Poland’s critical infrastructure.”
Caio Dullio, a Horizon-class guided-missile destroyer from the Italian Navy, anchored in the Polish naval base in Gdynia at 9 a.m., the tvp.info website reported.
Błaszczak said Italy’s decision to send the destroyer to Poland was the result of his talks with Italian counterpart Guido Crosetto in Rome earlier this week.
He added that the Italian vessel “will be strengthening our air defence for at least half a year.”
Meanwhile, Jacek Siewiera, who heads Polish President Andrzej Duda’s National Security Bureau (BBN), said in a tweet that Caio Duilio was “one of the most advanced ships in Europe,” featuring “48 rocket launchers and radars with a range of hundreds of kilometres.”
Guided-missile destroyer ITS Caio Duilio
Named after a Roman commander from the Punic Wars era, Caio Duilio is equipped with 48 launchers for the Aster anti-aircraft missiles, which have a range of up to 120 kilometres, officials said.
The Italian destroyer also features 8 launchers for the Otomat anti-ship missiles, as well as 25mm and 76mm cannons and torpedo launchers, tvp.info reported.
Staffed by a 230-strong crew, Caio Duilio also has a helicopter hangar and helipad and can sail at a speed of 29 knots (54 kilometres per hour), the PAP news agency reported.
Saturday is day 451 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm)
Source: PAP, tvp.info