With the project completed and evaluations had, the POLSTEN was quickly pushed into service during the spring of 1944 and Canadian factories participated in its serial manufacturing (John Inglis Ltd, Ontario). While Allied production of Oerlikons was given up in favor of the cheaper, simpler POLSTEN, the Polish gun never superseded the original in terms of numbers available and battlefield reach. In service, the POLSTEN was used as a local air-denial weapon against low-flying aircraft and featured as a towable, lightweight AA gun system and well as in double, triple and quad cannon mountings atop military trucks and trailers. Some Commonwealth tanks also featured the gun as secondary armament.
Atop its lightweight 'Universal Mounting', the POLSTEN had an overall length of 7 feet and weighed 121 lb. The mounting hardware allowed for an elevation span of -5 to +85 degrees to be reached. Traversal was a full 360-degrees. The 20mm projectiles exited the gun at a muzzle velocity of 2,725 feet per second. Rate-of-fire reached 450 rounds per minute. The gun held a reach out to 6,630 feet of altitude.
In the field, there was no reduction of efficiency and effectiveness for the Polish derivative of the Oerlikon and its versatility shown through by way of its many applications. Despite this it never took over the Oerlikon on a global scale simply due to the Swiss gun's availability.
Content ©MilitaryFactory.com; No Reproduction Permitted.