Aircraft

The Polish air force received a further batch of four Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters at Krzesiny air base on 22 November (pictured below), taking its inventory of the type to 21 single-seat Cs and 10 two-seat Ds from an eventual fleet of 48.

Poland’s F-16s have so far been assigned to the Krzesiny-based 3 and 6 tactical air squadrons, with deliveries to its 10 Sqn to begin late this year, ahead of the unit’s relocation to Lask air base in mid-2008. The squadrons will be responsible for operational conversion unit and attack; fighter/attack; and fighter/reconnaissance tasks respectively.

© Polish defence ministry

The air force expects to have 21 pilots trained to fly the F-16 by year-end, when another two aircraft will also have been delivered.

Meanwhile, Poland’s first production F-16 will be returned to Lockheed’s Fort Worth, Texas site by late December, having completed development work conducted at Edwards AFB, California, since mid-2006.

© Lockheed Martin

The aircraft, which will be flown to Poland next year, has supported software development work, tested sensors including Goodrich DB-110 reconnaissance and Lockheed Sniper XR targeting pods, and released weapons including Boeing’s GBU-31 JDAM GPS-guided bomb (pictured above) and Raytheon’s AGM-154C JSOW cruise missile during its test campaign.