Poland has signed a formal Letter of Offer and Acceptance with the United States to modernise its 48 F-16 Block 52+ fighter jets to the advanced F-16 Viper configuration, a package aimed at extending their operational life and enhancing combat capability for NATO missions.
Lockheed Martin will serve as the primary contractor, with Wojskowe Zakłady Lotnicze No. 2 (WZL-2) in Bydgoszcz carrying out the upgrade work in-country.
The F-16V package will equip the Polish Air Force with APG-83 Active Electronically Scanned Array Scalable Agile Beam radar, a high-resolution centre pedestal display, an upgraded mission computer, and a new display generator.
Additional modifications will integrate advanced helmet-mounted systems, electronic warfare enhancements, the Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod with Digital Video Interface, and the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System. Structural changes will extend the service life of the aircraft to 12,000 flight hours, while simulator upgrades will accompany the fleet overhaul.
Lockheed Martin described the upgrade as a step to keep Poland’s fleet relevant for decades. “The F-16 Viper upgrades strengthen Poland’s fleet for the missions ahead,” said Nick Smythe, the company’s vice president of Sustainment Campaign Strategies and Business Development. “These enhancements deliver advanced airpower capabilities by keeping the F-16 interoperable with 5th Generation platforms like the F-35, aligned with NATO missions and backed by sustained readiness and partnership with Polish industry.”
The work at WZL-2 will leverage local expertise and expand Poland’s defence industrial capacity. Lockheed Martin has invested $1.8 billion in the country’s defence ecosystem over the past decade, developing supply chain resilience and fostering skills transfer. The company said the F-16 programme will deepen industrial cooperation and workforce development, providing long-term benefits for Poland’s aerospace sector as well as its air force.
Just how many flying hours do the frames have left?
Great on Poland now if they could just swing the UKE fleet through the process as well…
Good Russians are dead Russians.
Really makes you wonder what could have been done with 30 Tranche 1 Typhoons with thousands of hours of life in the airframes and an already developed upgrade path from Spain.
Others on here will know better than me – Robert Blay – could it have done any harm?
Logistics. Pilot training. Small numbers. However, I like your point.
The only good Russian is a dead Russian.
The MoD is always very good at coming up with excuses to scrap weapons systems and those excuses tend to be training, logistics maintenance etc.
It’s a line straight from sir Humphrey and normally parroted on here by “experts” but the simple fact is that the same plane will continue to fly in the Falklands until the end of the decade and Spain has already commenced an upgrade program.
We are a nation of “professional” warriors who never consider large scale war and think hiding behind the never ending excuses of Politicans stealing their lunch money and don’t you know logistics old boy make up for it all yet wealthier countries than ours like Finland maintain larger forces on ten percent of our budget.
Agree, but our politicians have to have the will do it. They don’t.
Our politicans commit £60 billion of tax payers money each year to the MoD and no defence secretary has been in the job for much more than two years.
At some point we need to focus the blame on the military and the civil service.
Why £60 billion a year equates to a fast jet force of less than 150 planes when Finland can afford 64 F35’s on 10% of our budget.
Again, I agree Jim…BUT we all know that that the money for what the miltary are expected to do is not enough. By the time you take out Trident and delays over every project under the sun our hollowed out defence budget is not working. Now we have another bunch with defence being descibed as road repairs and rural broadband !! We desperately need a brain to sort out the armed forces properly. The question is…where are we going to find a brain ?
crazy that the upgrade cost is nearly the price they originally bought them for 20 years ago