The Eurofighter consortium declared at MSPO defence exhibition that Poland should consider the Typhoon as it looks at its future combat aircraft requirements.
Raffael Klaschka, head of marketing at Eurofighter GmbH, commented:
“Eurofighter Typhoon augments existing capabilities and further complements a powerful deterrence against any potential threat to Poland’s borders.”
Typhoon – the largest military collaborative programme developed by the NATO European Countries – is the benchmark regarding NATO Air-Defence on the Fighter Export Market.
The Eurofighter programme, which already has a fleet of nearly 500 aircraft across Europe, will also bring real opportunities from an industrial and economic perspective.
Klaschka continued:
“Joining the Eurofighter programme would bring new and additional opportunities to Poland – both from a military and economic perspective, with a number of possible options in scope, from assembly and manufacturing to support and maintenance. And, of course, Poland would play a role in the definition of any future development of the aircraft, which will continue to be in service well beyond 2050.
We take Polonization needs seriously, and would make it a guideline for our engagement.”
The Eurofighter consortium is made up of Europe’s three main defence & aerospace companies: Airbus Defence & Space, Leonardo and BAE Systems, headquartered in Germany, Italy and the UK respectively.
The consortium already supports thousands of jobs around Europe, including 4,000 direct jobs in Poland.
Klaschka concluded:
“Industrial collaboration is an inherent part of the Typhoon programme. We believe we can deliver an attractive and cost-effective solution for Poland.”
Eurofighter Typhoon is the most advanced new generation multi-role/swing-role combat aircraft available on the world market. Eight customers (Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Austria, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait) have already ordered the Eurofighter Typhoon. With 599 aircraft ordered, Eurofighter Typhoon is currently the largest and most successful military procurement programme in Europe.
Production is scheduled to fall to a 11 aircraft per year in 2018 and 5 in 2019, if no further orders are forthcoming.
According BAE systems yesterday.
There is an order for 24 in the pipeline from Qatar
It wouldn’t make much sense for Poland to purchase this over the F16 when they already operate a fleet of them. I’m pretty sure the Pole’s consider the USA a more strategic partner when it comes to ensuring their sovereignty than the EU.
Maybe, but big historic links and current work force in the U K?
A bunch of plumbers in London isn’t going to make Poland buy the Typhoon!
Chance for Liam Fox to justify his existence. HM Govt should be throwing everything they have at this by way of govt to govt offset deals, short term leasing of Tranche 1 Typhoons, cheap UK based maintenance etc.
I don’t believe F-16 is good enough against the latest Russian fighters. Poland is on the front line. They need the best QRE fighter there is, and I think that’s Typhoon.
All with this
If the Poles have the financial resources they will go for the F35A.
Why buy a fourth generation when you can get a fifth generation one.
As we we all know the cost of the F35 is falling and it’s capability will exceed the possible alternatives including typhoon.
I agree.
If they can afford it, they will consider the Lightning.
They spent a lot money ($70m+ each) on their so-so F-16s
They know they probably need better./
Mike – Given the Poles are huge nett recipients of EU money I doubt they have the resources to fund not only the purchase of F-35s but the attached training of crews and maintainers. And I really can’t see the Poles wearing having their jet engines maintained in Turkey.
I would disagree, the Polish F16’s are advanced and very capable fighters, more than a match for anything the Russians field, with extremely capable crews and weapons systems.
The Poles needs to purchase another batch of 48 F16’s , buying anything else’s is pointless duplication of capability and a huge increases in support costs
Am open to argument. If so would beg the question why the west has developed Rafale, Typhoon, F-22, F-35…..
They aren’t even the most capable F-16s available, let alone more advanced than any other NATO jet in use… the best thing about them is helmet queuing….. everything else is not world beating.
Joe, that’s not the point, they are very capable aircraft, not seeing the point of the being less capable than Typhoon, Rafael other F16’s etc, don’t think Poland’s going to war against NATO anytime soon…
They will dice and slice anything Russia can throw at them, vastly superior training, weapons systems etc
They can plug in to Uncle Sam’s proposed F16 avionics and weapons upgrades, plus the enormous US weapons stock pile when needed For Poland, taking on another aircraft type to do the same job, would be a great way to totally waste defence resources.
Very capable at what?
Not kidding… show your data here.
People should have a google at pictures of the Polish F-16s.
They are not the sleek slender light fighters of yore.
The Block-52 is a fat hulking bird, by anyone’s admission now slow and draggy with too much bolted onto too small a frame to be competitive against a peer foe in a fight.
It’s radar is (as always with the -16) not up to much & it will light up like a christmas tree on Russian radar.
Seeing as we can all agree it is at the bottom of the NATO ladder, I don’t for a second believe it can compete with the RuAF, in particular their SU-30 & derivative -35, which would be the tip of the Russian spear.
It is imporant to remember that including loan interest, the F-16s Poland has have cost $90m each.
The Polish government have expressed scepticism as to whether they want a repeat of that.
Hence the opening for other manufacturers like the Eurofighter.
The F-16 deal delivered yesterdays ability at a high price.
Poland might well need something better.
Joe, the block52 is capable and given the standard of across the board Russian fighter training / continuation training (I would argue that’s more important than the kit they fly), just look at some of the unprofessional dangerous cowboy tactics they employ over the Baltic, the Poles would outfight them.
This is all rather academic though, Poland’s F16’s are still new and like I said, why would they buy another fleet of aircraft to do precisely the same job, it just doesn’t make economic sense.
The only way that could happen is if they were offered a very good offset deal for a new fleet, with a buy back element for the F16 fleet.
My point being that from a Polish perspective it simply makes no sense to duplicate capability and expense by adding an additional combat aircraft type for the same mission set.
They should replace the Su22’s and Mig 29’s with a second batch of F16’s, seems a no brainer to me
Alternate view. Not sure stealth is going to matter to the Poles. Russians all they worry about which would involve slugging it out at the coal face. For that, Typhoon is rapidly becoming best swing fighter in town.
Agreed Ian, if they didn’t have the F16’s, then the latest spec Typhoon would fit the bill very well, supremely capable, they will nail an Su35 before it even knows the Typhoon is present.
The e scan Radar, Meteor and ASRAAM coupled with very small frontal Radar signature will make Typhoon a truly fearsome world beating opponent
I think Typhoon has completed live firing trials with Brimstone so it looks like in service in the RAF by 2019 is on schedule. A significant anti armour weapons platform for the Poles.
Because using €90m aircraft for AT and CAS has been a wonderful idea? The use of Tyhoons in that role is one of the most wasteful things done in decades. That is a role for A-10s or their possible replacement the OA-X winner, other aircraft actually meant for this role are the SU-25 and Tornados, and of course helicopter gunships.
Strike aircraft are meant to destroy infrastructure and supply points and conduct precision strikes when not conducting air superiority.
On another note I believe the current government in Poland wouldn’t buy the Typhoon due to current arguments with Mrs.Merkel and Mr.Genitloni. Due to addition to Mrs.Sydzlo not taking well to being threatened with sanctions. I don’t see much likelihood of Poland handing Germany and Italy that much money. Especially when they have just signed procurement contracts with Raytheon, Lockheed, and it’s looking like Bell is going to win the gunship contract. All of them tend to heavily discount when the customer buys multiple products.
I would add to that, one of the reasons Poland went for the F16 is they place great store in NATO and in direct correlation to this, to the USA itself as the very linch pin that holds it all together and indeed provides the vast majority of NATO’s capability.
As a country that has no intention of being invaded again, buying US helps cement Poland’s guarantee of US assistance, I certainly wouldn’t trust the Germans to come to their aid, article 5 or not !
The Polish are actually investing in Defence, while at the same time, Germany appears to have virtually disarmed!
Agreed, when you look at the numbers of new equipment Germany has actually purchased for its armed forces, it’s pretty clear the equipment is being developed for export. Their navy is tiny compared to the UK and France so there is no excuse to be depleting their land forces in the way they are.
Ok guys, uncle! But we should still bid!
The RAF will certainly have a silver bullet force, even a comparatively small force of 20 aircraft deployed, with all their weapons will be quite the iron fist…
Especially when SPEAR 2 is ready…
There are 15 Eurofighters going cheap with one very careful owner in Austria…
It would be a very EU-spirited decision !!
Hi Poland come and join the Eurofighter club fantastic fighter more than a match for any latest Russian fighter