TSAMTO, August 23. The Polish Ministry of Defense announced the presentation of the first pair of South Korean-made FA-50GF light combat aircraft delivered to the country on August 21 at the Minsk-Mazowiecki airbase.
The event was held in the presence of the Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak.
According to M. Blaszczak, ten more aircraft will be delivered to the Polish Air Force by the end of this year. Polish pilots have already been trained in their use. Further deliveries are planned for 2025-2028.
The Polish Ministry of Defense ordered 48 FA-50 aircraft from the South Korean company Korea Aerospace Industries in 2022. The first of them were delivered to Poland in July 2023. They passed initial tests at the 23rd Tactical Airbase.
FA-50s are combat training aircraft. As planned, they will be used to patrol the airspace of Poland, to carry out allied missions.
During the event, the Minister also announced the holding of the International Air Show 2023 in Radom after a five-year break. It will be held on August 26-27. The program involves a demonstration of aircraft in a static exposition and a dynamic presentation in the air. During the screenings, planes and helicopters of the Polish Air Force will be presented: F-16, FA-50, MiG-29, Su-22, M-28, Sokol, M-346, C-295, C-130, etc. The first Bayraktar-TB2 unmanned aerial systems, Flyai UAVs, WARMATE barrage ammunition, AW-101 and S-70 helicopters will also be demonstrated.
The air show will also feature ground equipment acquired for the Polish Armed Forces in recent years, as well as used by units of NATO allies stationed in Poland. In particular, the main battle tanks K2 "Black Panther" and M1A1 "Abrams", 155-mm self-propelled howitzers K9 "Thunder", MLRS HIMARS, SAM "Patriot", ZRPK PSR-A "Pilitsa", new BMP "Borsuk" and minelayers "Baobab-K" will be shown.
As reported by TSAMTO, on September 16, 2022, a ceremony of signing two executive contracts for the purchase of FA-50 light combat aircraft of the South Korean company Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) for the Polish Air Force took place in Minsk-Mazowiecki.
The subject of the first contract is the delivery of 12 FA-50 light combat aircraft in a configuration similar to that ordered by the Republic of Korea Air Force, along with training, logistics and technical support packages. The cost of this contract is about $705 million. The aircraft are to be delivered to the Polish Air Force in the second half of 2023, and deliveries of all components will be completed by the end of 2025.
The subject of the second contract, concluded by the Armaments Agency of Poland and Korean Aerospace Industries, is the supply of 36 FA-50PL light combat aircraft with training, logistics and technical support packages. The value of this contract is about $2.3 billion. Deliveries of the aircraft, which will be made in a configuration that meets the additional requirements of the Polish Air Force, will begin in 2025 and will be completed by the end of 2028. Later, the first 12 delivered FA-50s will be upgraded to the FA-50PL standard.
