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Poland ups its air combat capabilities

PR dla Zagranicy
John Beauchamp 23.04.2014 14:13
  • Poland ups its air combat capabilities. Sławek Szefs reports.
The Ministry of National Defence has revealed some of the ambitious modernisation plans for the Polish Air Force.

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A U.S. Air Force pilot navigates an F-35A Lightning II aircraft assigned to the 58th Fighter Squadron, 33rd Fighter Wing into position to refuel with a KC-135 Stratotanker assigned to the 336th Air Refueling Squadron over the northwest coast of Florida May 16, 2013. Photo credit: Public domain photograph from defenseimagery.mil

As Slawek Szefs reports, an element of this planned strategy is to be the fifth generation F-35 Lightning - the ultimate supersonic Joint Strike Fighter with vertical take-off and landing capability.

Tadeusz Wrobel from the 'Polska Zbrojna' military magazine, says the Polish Air Force would be in need of at least 4 squadrons, or 60 Joint Strike Fighters. This implies costs as impressive as the F-35 itself.

"The initial price exceeded 200 million dollars per single plane. However, the manufacturer has calculated that once full production capacity is attained the cost of a new machine of the series should not run higher than 80 to 90 million dollars," the expert told Polish Radio.

Poland is also interested in securing a contract for AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) from the United States though, so far, only three countries received a positive American response for their delivery.

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