Poland awards $3.8 billion F-16 modernization deal to US

WARSAW, Poland — In a bid to modernize the country’s combat aircraft fleet, the Polish Ministry of National Defense has signed a deal with the United States to upgrade its 48 F-16 C/D Block 52+ fighter jets to the F-16V standard.

The contract, which is to be performed by Lockheed Martin as the prime contractor in cooperation with Poland’s defense industry , has a net value of around $3.8 billion.

The aircraft’s midlife upgrade is to be predominantly implemented at Military Aviation Works No. 2, a plant operated by Poland’s state-run defense group PGZ. Under the plan, the overhauled fighter jets are to return to service in the years 2030 to 2038, the ministry said in a statement.

“More than 20 years ago, our predecessor selected an aircraft to replace the post-Soviet gear that we had in the Polish Air Force. We chose the F-16,” Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Poland’s deputy prime minister and national defense minister, said at the official signing ceremony on Aug. 13.

“For the next 20 years, F-16s protected Poland’s skies, participated in foreign missions, including in air policing over the Baltic States, and were deployed wherever our allies needed them.”

At the same time, the current capabilities of the Polish F-16 fleet are “insufficient to address the threats” that the country is facing, Kosiniak-Kamysz said in reference to the ongoing Russian invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

“We need to enhance [the aircraft’s] reconnaissance capabilities, communications, integration with the F-35s , Abrams and Apaches , as well as their ability to operate in any domain,” according to the minister.

Since Russia’s February 2022 attack against Ukraine, Poland has placed a number of major military gear orders with U.S. companies, including last August’s purchase of 96 Boeing AH-64E Apache attack helicopters under a deal worth around $10 billion, and the April 2022 contract to acquire 250 M1A2 Abrams SEPv3 tanks for some $4.75 billion, among others.

With the country’s defense spending expected to reach an estimated 4.7 percent of its gross domestic product this year, Warsaw has allocated a record-high budget of PLN 186.6 billion (USD $51.3 billion) to the military in 2025.

Tomasz Smura, the program director and management board member at the Warsaw-based Casimir Pulaski Foundation, told Defense News that, for more than three decades, maintaining close relations with the United States was a permanent trait of Poland’s foreign policy under all governments.

At the same time, alongside the development of the Polish defense industry’s capacities, local officials are increasingly interested in transfers of technology and know-how to the country’s plants, he said.

Based in Bydgoszcz, in Poland’s western region, Military Aviation Works No. 2 services various aircraft operated by the Polish Air Force. These include the F-16s, Hercules C-130s and also some of the nation’s remaining Soviet-designed military aircraft and helicopters.

The company will also accommodate a servicing center for the FA-50 light attack aircraft Poland purchased from South Korea’s Korea Aerospace Industries.

As part of the program to modernize Poland’s F-16 fleet, each fighter jet will be fitted with a new AN/APG-83 active electronically scanned array (AESA) scalable agile beam radars (SABR), an advanced mission computer and an AN/APX-126/127 advanced identification friend or foe (AIFF) system, among others, according to the Armament Agency, the ministry’s procurement arm.

Poland is to also secure AGM-158 joint air-to-surface standoff missile (JASSM) flight test vehicles and other equipment supporting the aircraft’s enhanced combat capacities, as per the October 2024 announcement of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA).

The latest development comes as the Polish ministry is mulling plans to further expand the Air Force’s modern combat aircraft capacities, which are currently ensured by F-16s and FA-50s, and will be bolstered by the 32 F-35A Lightning II fighters the country ordered in 2020.

The first F-35s are expected to be delivered to Poland in 2026, making the country the fighter’s first user in Eastern Europe, with the Czech Republic and Romania slated to follow suit.

Meanwhile, Warsaw is currently analyzing whether to order an additional two squadrons of fighter jets for the nation’s armed forces.

The available options include buying 32 more F-35s, or alternatively opting for one of the two air superiority aircraft: the Eurofighter Typhoon, a jet manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo, and Boeing’s F-15EX fighter, as indicated by Polish military officials.

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

波兰华沙——为了实现该国作战飞机机队的现代化，波兰国防部与美国签署了一项协议，将其48架F-16 C/D Block 52+战斗机升级到F-16V标准。

该合同由洛克希德·马丁公司作为主承包商与波兰国防工业合作执行，净值约为 38 亿美元。

该战机的中期升级改造将主要在波兰国营国防集团PGZ旗下的第二军用航空工厂进行。波兰国防部在一份声明中表示，根据该计划，改造后的战斗机将于2030年至2038年间重新服役。

“20多年前，我们的前任选择了一款飞机来替换波兰空军中苏联时代的装备。我们选择了F-16，”波兰副总理兼国防部长瓦迪斯瓦夫·科西尼亚克-卡梅什在8月13日的正式签约仪式上说道。

“在接下来的20年里，F-16战机保卫了波兰的领空，参与了包括波罗的海国家上空空中巡逻在内的海外任务，并被部署到盟友需要的任何地方。”

科西尼亚克-卡梅什表示，与此同时，波兰F-16机队的现有能力“不足以应对”该国面临的威胁，他指的是俄罗斯正在入侵邻国乌克兰。

部长表示：“我们需要增强（该飞机的）侦察能力、通信能力、与 F-35、艾布拉姆斯和阿帕奇的集成能力，以及在任何领域作战的能力。”

自俄罗斯 2022 年 2 月袭击乌克兰以来，波兰已向美国公司订购了多批大型军事装备，其中包括去年 8 月购买 96 架波音 AH-64E 阿帕奇攻击直升机（价值约 100 亿美元）以及 2022 年 4 月购买 250 辆 M1A2 艾布拉姆斯 SEPv3 坦克（价值约 47.5 亿美元）等。

预计该国今年的国防开支将达到国内生产总值的 4.7%，华沙已为 2025 年的军费开支拨出了创纪录的 1866 亿兹罗提（513 亿美元）。

华沙卡西米尔·普拉斯基基金会的项目主管兼管理委员会成员托马斯·斯穆拉告诉《防务新闻》，三十多年来，与美国保持密切关系一直是波兰历届政府外交政策的永久特征。

他表示，与此同时，随着波兰国防工业能力的提升，当地官员对向该国工厂转让技术和专业知识越来越感兴趣。

位于波兰西部比得哥什的第二军用航空工厂为波兰空军运营的各种飞机提供维修服务。这些飞机包括F-16战斗机、C-130大力神运输机，以及该国一些剩余的苏联设计的军用飞机和直升机。

该公司还将设立一个服务中心，用于维修波兰从韩国航空航天工业公司购买的 FA-50 轻型攻击机。

据波兰国防部采购机构——军备局称，作为波兰F-16机队现代化计划的一部分，每架战斗机都将配备新型AN/APG-83有源电子扫描阵列（AESA）可扩展敏捷波束雷达（SABR）、先进的任务计算机和AN/APX-126/127先进敌我识别（AIFF）系统等。

根据美国国防安全合作局 (DSCA) 2024 年 10 月的公告，波兰还将获得 AGM-158 联合空对地防区外导弹 (JASSM) 飞行试验飞行器和其他支持该飞机增强作战能力的设备。

最新进展是，波兰国防部正在考虑进一步扩大空军现代化作战飞机能力的计划，目前波兰空军的现代化作战飞机主要由 F-16 和 FA-50 组成，而该国在 2020 年订购的 32 架 F-35A 闪电 II 战斗机将进一步增强其作战能力。

首批 F-35 战斗机预计将于 2026 年交付波兰，使波兰成为东欧首个使用该型战斗机的国家，捷克和罗马尼亚也将随后跟进。

与此同时，华沙方面正在分析是否要为该国武装部队增购两个中队的战斗机。

波兰军方官员表示，可行的方案包括再购买 32 架 F-35 战斗机，或者选择两种空中优势飞机之一：由空客、BAE 系统公司和莱昂纳多公司组成的联合体制造的欧洲战斗机“台风”，以及波音公司的 F-15EX 战斗机。

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。