Poland, Italy are unfazed by F-35 upgrade snags

WARSAW, Poland — With fears of slipping F-35 delivery schedules plaguing some European customers of the Lockheed Martin-made warplanes, defense officials in Poland and Italy said they don’t expect their fleets to be affected by the vendor’s technical problems in rolling out a key upgrade for the jets.

In January 2020, Poland signed a contract worth $4.6 billion under which the country is to receive 32 F-35A Lightning II jets from the United States. Warsaw aims to replace the Polish Air Force’s outdated Soviet-designed Sukhoi Su-22 and Mikoyan MiG-29 jets with new fifth-generation jets, adding the aircraft to its fleet of F-16 C/D Block 52+ fighters and FA-50 light attack aircraft.

The nation is poised to become the first user of the Lockheed Martin-made jet in the region, with Romania and the Czech Republic following suit. Deliveries of the F-35s for Poland are scheduled to begin in 2024. The Polish Ministry of National Defence says that the deal is on track.

“The implementation of the contract for the purchase of 32 F-35 fighters is proceeding in line with the schedule. The first six of the ordered F-35A aircraft will be delivered to a U.S. air base in the years 2024 to 2025, and they will be used to train Polish pilots,” a spokesperson for the ministry told Defense News.

“The new fighters will arrive to Poland in 2026, and they will continue to be delivered until 2030 in batches of between four and six units per year,” according to the spokesperson.

Meanwhile, as Poland is awaiting the first of its ordered F-35 jets, Warsaw is considering to further expand its combat aircraft fleet with a purchase of 32 additional fighters of a yet undetermined type, as suggested by local defense decision-makers.

Polish Air Force officials have expressed interest in securing air superiority aircraft that could counter Russian Sukhoi Su-34 fighter bombers and Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets. This suggests that the front runners for a potential order would include the Eurofighter Typhoon, produced by a European consortium jointly operated by Airbus, BAE Systems UK, and Italy’s Leonardo, and the F-15EX Eagle II, manufactured by Boeing.

However, a third option could consist of expanding Poland’s F-35 order and purchasing more jets from Lockheed Martin. Recent statements by local government officials indicate that all options are on the table, but budget constraints will affect the final decision.

“We want to modernize the Polish military, this is our program,” Polish Deputy Defence Minister Paweł Zalewski told local broadcaster Radio Poland in a Feb. 13 interview, vowing to continue the previous government’s thrust.

Asked whether the defense ministry was considering to increase its F-35 order, Zalewski replied that “we will see what will be the offer. For now, we cannot rule out anything, but we would like these aircraft to arrive to Poland as soon as possible.”

As for Italy, the country has received 24 of the 90 fighter jets ordered from the United States. The Italian Air Force already has deployed the F-35s to carry out air-policing missions over the Baltic Sea and the northern Atlantic Ocean.

Rome believes that the issues related to Lockheed’s Technology Refresh 3, or TR-3, which is a batch of hardware and software upgrades to the latest variant of the F-35, will not prevent the country’s military from performing its operations as planned.

“The Italian Air Force is following the TR-3 development and release very closely because of the capabilities it will introduce, which are vital to cope with advanced threats,” a spokesperson for the Italian air service told Defense News.

“However, its delay, if not further extended considerably, does not preclude the Italian Air Force to execute the assigned mission within the operating domains,” the spokesperson said.

Tom Kington reported from Rome.

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.

波兰华沙——由于洛克希德·马丁公司制造的F-35战机的交付进度可能延后，一些欧洲客户对此感到担忧，但波兰和意大利的国防官员表示，他们预计两国的F-35机队不会受到供应商在推出该型战机关键升级时出现的技术问题的影响。

2020年1月，波兰签署了一份价值46亿美元的合同，根据该合同，波兰将从美国接收32架F-35A“闪电II”战斗机。华沙方面计划用这些新型第五代战斗机替换波兰空军老旧的苏-22和米格-29战斗机，并将其加入现有的F-16 C/D Block 52+战斗机和FA-50轻型攻击机的机队中。

波兰有望成为该地区首个使用洛克希德·马丁公司制造的F-35战机的国家，罗马尼亚和捷克共和国也将紧随其后。波兰的F-35战机预计将于2024年开始交付。波兰国防部表示，该交易进展顺利。

“购买32架F-35战斗机的合同正在按计划执行。订购的首批六架F-35A飞机将于2024年至2025年交付给美国空军基地，并将用于训练波兰飞行员，”国防部发言人告诉《防务新闻》。

发言人表示：“新战斗机将于 2026 年抵达波兰，并将持续交付至 2030 年，每年交付四到六架。”

与此同时，波兰正在等待其订购的首架 F-35 战斗机交付，华沙方面正在考虑进一步扩充其作战飞机机队，根据当地国防决策者的建议，购买 32 架尚未确定型号的战斗机。

波兰空军官员已表示有意采购能够对抗俄罗斯苏-34战斗轰炸机和苏-35战斗机的空中优势战机。这表明，潜在订单的热门机型可能包括由空客、英国BAE系统公司和意大利莱昂纳多公司组成的欧洲财团生产的“台风”战斗机，以及波音公司生产的F-15EX“鹰II”战斗机。

然而，第三种选择可能是扩大波兰的F-35订单，从洛克希德·马丁公司购买更多战机。当地政府官员最近的表态表明，所有方案都在考虑范围内，但预算限制将影响最终决定。

波兰国防部副部长帕维尔·扎列夫斯基在2月13日接受波兰广播电台采访时表示：“我们希望实现波兰军队的现代化，这是我们的计划。”他誓言将继续上届政府的改革步伐。

当被问及国防部是否考虑增加F-35战机的订单时，扎列夫斯基回答说：“我们会看看对方的报价。目前，我们不能排除任何可能性，但我们希望这些战机尽快抵达波兰。”

至于意大利，该国已接收了从美国订购的90架战斗机中的24架。意大利空军已将这些F-35战斗机部署到波罗的海和北大西洋上空执行空中警戒任务。

罗马方面认为，与洛克希德公司的技术更新 3 (TR-3) 相关的问题（TR-3 是对最新型 F-35 的一批硬件和软件升级）不会阻止该国军队按计划执行作战行动。

意大利空军发言人告诉《防务新闻》：“意大利空军正密切关注TR-3的研发和发布，因为它将带来应对先进威胁至关重要的能力。”

发言人表示：“然而，即使延误没有进一步大幅延长，也不会妨碍意大利空军在作战区域内执行既定任务。”

汤姆·金顿从罗马报道。

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。

汤姆·金顿是《防务新闻》驻意大利记者。