Poland teams up with Spain to double tanker aircraft purchase

WARSAW, Poland — As the Polish government is advancing plans to purchase multi-role tanker transport aircraft for the country’s Air Force, aiming to buy Airbus A330 MRTT planes, the nation has teamed up with Spain to implement the acquisition.

Poland initially planned to procure two aircraft using loans from the European Union, but the agreement with Madrid will allow Warsaw to increase its tanker order to four units.

A spokesperson for the Polish Ministry of National Defence told Defense News that Poland and Spain have signed a memorandum that obliges the two countries to carry out the acquisition together. The deal enables the Spanish government to share its delivery slots with the Polish ministry.

By joining forces with Madrid for the procurement, Warsaw will receive the MRTTs by 2030. The agreement was signed in late June 2026 during an official visit to Spain by Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and National Defence Minister. During the visit, Kosiniak-Kamysz met with his Spanish counterpart, Margarita Robles.

The Polish minister has announced “that, within two weeks’ time, Poland will arrange with Madrid the details of the contract to buy tanker and transport aircraft. Poland will order four A330 MRTT tankers,” the spokesperson said. “We are currently at the final stage of talks.”

Under the EU’s Security Action for Europe (SAFE) scheme, the Polish defense budget is to absorb funds of around €43.7 billion ($49.9 billion) in low-cost loans. The program is designed to allow member states to bolster their defense capabilities amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, and Poland is to receive the largest share of the funds. The program stipulates that the loans must be disbursed by the end of 2030.

“The order from European group Airbus will be financed through the SAFE mechanism,” according to the defense spokesperson.

The value of the planned purchase was not disclosed by the Polish ministry. In May 2026, Italy unveiled plans to acquire six A330 MRTTs in a deal worth some €1.4 billion ($1.6 billion).

The latest development confirms that Poland has chosen the Airbus aircraft over the only competitor that had also been considered, Boeing’s KC-46.

Meanwhile, U.S. and European manufacturers continue to compete for another major aircraft order in the pipeline. Poland’s government is mulling plans to buy up to 32 new fighter jets, with some of the evaluated options including: Lockheed Martin’s F-35 ; Boeing’s F-15EX ; and the Eurofighter Typhoon, a jet manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo.

With deliveries of the first of the country’s 32 ordered F-35s initiated last June, Lockheed Martin is encouraging officials in Warsaw to double down on the Polish military’s commitment to fifth-generation jets. At the same time, the manufacturers of the two air superiority aircraft that are also in the race are looking favorably at recent statements by Brig. Gen. Tomasz Jatczak, the inspector of the Polish Air Force.

On June 19, Jatczak and Kevin Fesler, Boeing’s executive director overseeing business development and strategy for air dominance, participated in a panel discussion during the annual Warsaw Defense Fair event. The general stated he is “an advocate for air superiority” as securing this capability could provide Poland with “a key element of deterrence” against Russia.

Meanwhile, in its campaign for the potential Polish deal, the consortium behind the Eurofighter is benefiting from the recent move by Business Centre Club, a Polish employers’ organization, which backed the jet in the race. On June 23, the group issued an open letter to a group of decision-makers including Poland’s president, prime minister and national defense minister, calling on them to select the Typhoon.

“A mixed fleet, combining the stealth capabilities of the F-35 with the kinematics and missile count of an air superiority aircraft such as the Eurofighter offers greater freedom of rational use, resistance to the exhaustion of combat assets, and greater operational flexibility than 64 aircraft of the same type,” the Business Centre Club said in its missive.

The open letter also argues that Poland’s defense and aerospace industries could gain considerable benefits from involvement in the European jet’s supply chain.

“Another F-35 contract is one in which the Polish industry remains a customer, not a partner. The Eurofighter consortium … has already declared that Poland’s participation in the program would mean that approximately 40 percent of the investment value would remain in Poland through the supply chain, not just the purchase of a finished aircraft,” according to the organization.

Meanwhile, the Polish authorities are also considering joining the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) , a tri-nation initiative spearheaded by Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom to develop a sixth-generation fighter jet.

Włodzimierz Usarek, a retired major general of the Polish Air Force, told Defense News that by joining the Eurofighter’s supply chain alongside European partners, Poland’s defense industry could gain access to technologies and capacities that would otherwise not be available to local companies.

“Buying the Eurofighter will put Poland in a preferential position to develop the sixth-generation fighter and jointly produce it with other countries instead of continuing to be other countries’ client,” Usarek said. “With the F-35, we will have the stealth capacity that is necessary to open up the enemy airspace to other aircraft. With air superiority fighters such as the Eurofighter, Polish pilots will be able to fight the adversary at an altitude that only such aircraft can access.”

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

波兰华沙——波兰政府正在推进为该国空军购买多用途加油运输机的计划，目标是购买空客A330 MRTT飞机，为此，波兰与西班牙合作实施了这项采购。

波兰最初计划利用欧盟的贷款采购两架飞机，但与马德里的协议将允许华沙将其加油机订单增加到四架。

波兰国防部发言人告诉《防务新闻》，波兰和西班牙已签署一份谅解备忘录，规定两国将共同完成此次采购。该协议允许西班牙政府与波兰国防部共享交付名额。

通过与马德里合作采购，华沙将于2030年前接收多用途轮式坦克。该协议于2026年6月下旬签署，当时波兰副总理兼国防部长瓦迪斯瓦夫·科西尼亚克-卡梅什正在对西班牙进行正式访问。访问期间，科西尼亚克-卡梅什会见了西班牙国防部长玛格丽塔·罗夫莱斯。

波兰部长宣布，“波兰将在两周内与马德里敲定购买加油机和运输机的合同细节。波兰将订购四架A330 MRTT加油机，”发言人说。“我们目前正处于谈判的最后阶段。”

根据欧盟的“欧洲安全行动”（SAFE）计划，波兰国防预算将吸收约437亿欧元（499亿美元）的低息贷款。该计划旨在帮助成员国在俄罗斯持续入侵乌克兰的背景下加强国防能力，波兰将获得其中最大份额的资金。该计划规定，贷款必须在2030年底前发放完毕。

据国防部发言人称，“来自欧洲空中客车集团的订单将通过SAFE机制进行融资。”

波兰国防部并未透露此次采购计划的具体金额。2026年5月，意大利公布了一项价值约14亿欧元（16亿美元）的采购计划，拟购入六架A330 MRTT飞机。

最新进展证实，波兰已选择空客飞机，而不是之前唯一考虑过的竞争对手波音公司的 KC-46。

与此同时，美国和欧洲的飞机制造商仍在竞相争取另一项即将交付的大型飞机订单。波兰政府正在考虑购买多达32架新型战斗机，部分评估选项包括：洛克希德·马丁公司的F-35战斗机；波音公司的F-15EX战斗机；以及由空客、英国航空航天系统公司和莱昂纳多公司组成的联合体生产的欧洲台风战斗机。

随着波兰订购的32架F-35战斗机中的首架于去年6月开始交付，洛克希德·马丁公司正敦促华沙官员加倍重视波兰军方对第五代战机的投入。与此同时，参与竞标的另外两家空中优势战机制造商也对波兰空军监察长托马什·雅特恰克准将近期的表态表示赞赏。

6月19日，雅特扎克将军与波音公司负责空中优势业务发展和战略的执行董事凯文·费斯勒一同参加了在华沙举行的年度防务展的小组讨论。雅特扎克将军表示，他“支持空中优势”，因为获得这种能力可以为波兰提供“对抗俄罗斯的关键威慑要素”。

与此同时，在争取波兰订单的过程中，欧洲战斗机项目的财团受益于波兰雇主组织“商业中心俱乐部”（Business Centre Club）近期的举动。该组织此前曾公开支持欧洲战斗机参与竞标。6月23日，该组织向包括波兰总统、总理和国防部长在内的决策者发出公开信，呼吁他们选择“台风”战斗机。

商业中心俱乐部在其信函中表示：“将 F-35 的隐身能力与欧洲战斗机等空中优势飞机的运动性能和导弹数量相结合的混合机队，比 64 架同类型飞机提供更大的合理使用自由度、更强的作战资产损耗抵抗力和更大的作战灵活性。”

这封公开信还指出，波兰的国防和航空航天工业可以通过参与欧洲喷气式飞机的供应链获得相当大的利益。

该组织表示：“另一份F-35合同意味着波兰工业仍然是客户，而不是合作伙伴。欧洲战斗机联盟……已经宣布，波兰参与该项目意味着大约40%的投资价值将通过供应链留在波兰，而不仅仅是购买一架成品飞机。”

与此同时，波兰当局也在考虑加入全球作战空中计划（GCAP），这是一项由意大利、日本和英国牵头的三国倡议，旨在开发第六代战斗机。

波兰空军退役少将沃齐米日·乌萨雷克告诉《防务新闻》，通过与欧洲合作伙伴一起加入欧洲战斗机的供应链，波兰国防工业可以获得当地公司原本无法获得的技术和能力。

“购买欧洲战斗机将使波兰在研发第六代战斗机方面处于有利地位，并能与其他国家联合生产，而不是继续做其他国家的客户，”乌萨雷克说。“有了F-35，我们将拥有必要的隐身能力，从而为其他飞机打开敌方空域。借助像欧洲战斗机这样的空中优势战斗机，波兰飞行员将能够在只有这类飞机才能到达的高度与敌机作战。”

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。