Poland about to buy fifth generation fighter jets. Which ones is still unclear.
During a conference held on Feb. 6, 2014, Ministry of National Defence announced Poland will buy 64 fifth generation jets.
The new aircraft will be delivered between 2022 and 2030. In the meanwhile the Su-22 Fitters, initially set to be retired by 2015, will be modernized and kept flyable until the new planes arrive.
The sum allocated to the procurement of the future aircraft is around 2.8B Polish Zloty (930M USD).
Considered the strong ties with Lockheed Martin (the Polish Air Force already operates the F-16 Block 52+), the first candidate for the role of Warsaw’s future aircraft is the F-35. But since F-35A has a pricetag around 100 USD million apiece, the purchase of the Joint Strike Fighter is quite unlikely.
The Lightning II is very expensive, and would seriously hamper the rest of the Polish Armed Forces modernization plan, which includes new helicopters, submarines, new air defenses and anti-missile shield.
Image Credit: Lockheed Martin
Jacek Siminski for TheAviationist
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I think for the price Poland is offering I will offer my plane purchasing consultation services for free.
1.Aermacchi MB-339 – loosely fits the budget plus a few mil
2. Aero L-29
3. Bae Hawk – a little to pricey but licensed production may help to reach delivery deadlines price point.
4. Revival of the PZL-230 would be cool
5.Armed version of PZL Mielec M-18
OK !!! I KNOW the autor got IT a little wrong…
…the allocated budget for THE 36 up to 64 new fighters
is 3 to 5 BILLION USD to be paid from FY 2022 !!!
True, but it will be financed from Fiscal Year 2018 or 2019 until 2024
No aircraft will be delivered before year 2020.
Budget is not 3 Billion PLN (local currency) LOL, that is less than what they spend on thir own ROSOMAK Armed Veichles
48 – F-16 Block 51´s (servicing until 2045)
30 – Modernized MiG-29 (servicing until 2024)
16 – Modernized SU-22 (servicing until 2024)
—– The need is MAXIMUM 40 to 50 NEW FIGHTERS
—– The costs is MAXIMUM 4.0 to 5.0 BN $
R.Lopaka,
“They’re very stealthy!! Ya can’t even SEE them. LOL”.
How is the F-35 very stealthy when carrying external weapons under the wings and being seen by Nebo-M Counter Stealth radars and L-band radars on Su-35S and PAK-FA?