Surface Forces: Poland Creates A New Frigate

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November 17, 2025: Poland has adopted the Arrowhead 140 frigate and modified it to meet the needs of the Polish Navy in the Baltic Sea. The British Type 31E frigates were the source of the Arrowhead design. In Europe it is common for basic warship designs to be modified by each nation to suit its needs.

Poland is initially building three of its Swordfish frigates based on the basic Arrowhead design. Each of these ships are 7,000-ton warships that are 139 meters long, have a crew of 100 and accommodations for 80 more personnel. Top speed is 52 kilometers an hour and enough fuel and other supplies are carried to remain at sea for 21 days.

Electronics include air and surface search radars as well a hull mounted sonar augmented by towed sonar. Weapons include 32 Vertical Launch Cells/VLS for antiaircraft missiles. There is one 76mm rapid fire gun, two 34mm autocannon close-in weapons systems, two 12.7mm remotely controlled machine-guns and two 12.7mm crew operated machine-guns. There are sixteen NSM anti-ship missiles and two triple launch tubes for 324mm anti-submarine torpedoes. There are four boat bays for 7.7 meter, 11 meter rigid hull inflatable boats or surface or underwater drones.