The U.S. Department of State has approved the sale of 32 stealth fighter aircraft F-35A to Poland, as part of a contract approximately worth $6.5 billion.
Bis repetita. 16 years after the sale of forty-eight F-16s to Poland, the U.S. Department of State has approved the sale of 32 stealth fighter aircraft F-35A to the NATO member state, as part of a contract approximately worth $6.5 billion.
The proposal includes the service and support of the aircraft. Nonetheless, the contract has not yet been negotiated and signed. Thus, the notification does not mean the sale is concluded as Poland can still require modifications. Another matter to discuss regards the offset investments.
The potential sale is synonymous of the acquisition by Poland of 33 Pratt et Whitney F-135 engines as well as other equipments and systems related to the electronic warfare, the command and control, communications, intelligence, navigation, global support, infrared decoys and mission training material.
On May 28, 2019, the Polish Minister of Defense, Mariusz Blaszczak, stated : “Today we sent a request for quotation (LOR) to our American partners regarding the purchase of 32 F-35A aircraft along with a logistics and training package”. The aim is to replace the equipment (post) Soviet — Su-22 Fitter and MiG-29 Fulcrum aircraft, some of the latter being German-manufactured and sold for a euro — by modern material.
Poland wishes to acquire the Lockheed Martin stealth aircraft to adjust the forces equilibrium in comparison with Russia, whose ambitions of terrestrial recapture worries Poland — especially since the Ukraine-Russia crisis.