Polish fighter buy on hold for planning doc, but F-35 order won’t be cut: General

MSPO — Poland continues to prioritize the acquisition of “more fighters in a short future” but any movement on procuring 32 new fighter jets is on hold until a new, long-term capability plan has been approved, Maj. Gen. Cezary Wisniewski, deputy general commander of the Polish Armed Forces told Breaking Defense today.

The good news for industry waiting word on Poland’s plans: That 15-year planning document is due to be sorted out in “a matter of months,” Wisniewski said on the sidelines of the MSPO trade show today, but that means the timeline remains uncertain for when a selection, let alone a contract award, might actually come.

“My gut feeling — more than gut feeling — is that there will be resources allocated for new fighters and the CCA [Collaborative Combat Aircraft program] in the next 15 years [capability planning] cycle,” Wisniewski said. But if that buy of more combat jets “happens a year from now, five years from now, or ten years from now, I cannot say.”

“I would say that because we’re working on a new [long term, capability] plan, some of the procedures [have] slowed down right now, [we are] just waiting for the new approval,” shared Wisniewski. “I believe that when you get the new plan, this is like a 15 year cycle plan….we can move forward,” with acquiring additional fighter jets.

The procurement process is “probably [a] longer process than we thought, like two years ago.”

Warsaw has held interest in the purchase of 32 additional fighter jets for several years as part of an air dominance requirement, and a Boeing representative even went so far as to say at the last edition of MSPO that “we are targeting late 2024 or [early] 2025,” for a selection decision to be made, as the US firm continues to offer the F-15EX Eagle II fourth-generation jet.

In addition to the F-15EX, Warsaw is also considering the Eurofighter Typhoon, and has not ruled out additional Lockheed Martin F-35A fifth generation combat aircraft, on top of 32 units already on order.

Despite Switzerland recently communicating that it will reassess how many of the stealth planes it plans to buy, after failing to resolve a pricing dispute with the manufacturer, Wisniewski stressed that Warsaw does not plan on taking similar action.

“We are committed to the old contract, which was signed up during the previous government, and the current one” has also kept to the $4.6 billion order, originally agreed in 2020.

“F-35 is a very crucial platform for the Polish air power projection concept. I don’t see any issues with that” contract going forward, added Wisniewski.  

Poland is set to receive a first F-35 in country next year, with four aircraft currently in the US, said Wisniewski.

Notably, he also said that the Polish Air Force is “watching very carefully what the US Air Force is doing right now” in relation to CCA developments. “My point about the loyal wingman is that the Polish Air Force wants to be a part of this solution. We see this as very important especially [because] we see in Europe less and less combat fighters” operating.

He said that at the direction of former USAF secretary Frank Kendall, the “door for international cooperation in the CCA” was opened, including a “great chunk of the information necessary to build up the picture about how the US Air Force is moving forward with these capabilities.”

Wisniewski noted, “We know that the first flight just happened with… the sample of the new technology, [with] General Atomics and Anduril companies working on that. So we [are] just trying to figure out how the US Air Force is going to move forward, especially I believe that the F-35 is a perfect platform to carry….this unmanned, teaming type of capabilities.”

Looking at other potential acquisitions, he said that the Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft is included “in our planning. But you know, based on the nature of this [new] plan” having still to be approved, “I just cannot share” any details.