POLAND WILL SIGN CONTRACT FOR 32 F-35s ⋆ ✯ Aviation News, Videos & More ✯

WARSAW, POLAND – Poland will sign a contract for 32 F-35s on Friday, Mariusz Blaszczak – the Polish Minister of Defense – announced on Twitter. The F-35 will replace the old Polish fighter jets from the Cold War – the MiG-29 and Su-22.

Poland will sign the contract on Friday January 31 at 3:00 PM local time in Deblin, Eastern Poland. The deal has a value of 4.6 billion dollar (4.2 billion euro). The first 16 F-35s will be delivered before 2026.

It was no secret that Poland would opt for the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II:

F-35 wylądowały wczoraj w Polsce. Póki co amerykańskie i tylko w ramach ćwiczeń, ale ciężko pracujemy nad tym, aby naszego nieba już wkrótce strzegły najnowocześniejsze myśliwce – 5 generacji z biało-czerwoną szachownicą pic.twitter.com/ArxfOMCpQs
— Mariusz Błaszczak (@mblaszczak) July 17, 2019

“F-35 landed in Poland yesterday. For now American, and only as part of exercises. But we are working hard to ensure that our sky is soon guarded by the most modern fighters – 5th generation with white and red checkerboard,” the Polish Minister of Defense tweeted on July 17 last year.

Mówiłem, że będą 😉Już w ten piątek, w Dęblinie o godz. 15:00 podpiszę wartą 4,6 mld USD umowę na zakup 32 najnowocześniejszych myśliwców piątej generacji F-35 pic.twitter.com/VhtKiI5Zo2
— Mariusz Błaszczak (@mblaszczak) January 27, 2020

“I said they would be 😉 this Friday in Dęblin at 15:00 I will sign a contract worth USD 4.6 billion for the purchase of 32 state-of-the-art fifth generation F-35 fighters,” the Polish Minister of Defence tweeted on Monday.

Replacing old Cold War fighter jets

Poland will buy the F-35A variant of the Joint Strike Fighter to replace the outdated MiG-29 and Sukhoi Su-22s, which were in service for the Polish Air Force since the Cold War.

The Polish Air Force still has 20 Su-22 Fitters and 29 MiG-29 Fulcrums in service. In addition, Poland has 48 of the most modern F-16s – the F-16C/D Block 52+.

After the U.S., Poland will be the 14th nation and 10th NATO country to order the F-35A. Countries like Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, and Korea already purchased the F-35A variant.

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