The Minister of National Defense, Mariusz Bszczak, has announced the positive decision of the US Congress that allows for the sale of F35 fighters to Poland:
"The US Congress has agreed to sell 32 state-of-the-art F-35 aircraft to Poland. This is one of the last steps before entering into the contract, but this is not the end of our work. We will negotiate hard to achieve the best possible price."
Therefore, all it remains are hard negotiations, as the minister wrote, and this process is entering its final phase and is expected to end soon. A few weeks ago, the US Department of State approved the sale of 32 Lockheed Martin F-35 multirole fighters to Poland for a maximum of 6.5 billion USD.
The F35 planes were supposed to be delivered to Belgium for a similar amount, but the country eventually negotiated a lower price of around 4.25 billion USD. Minister Błaszczak his expressed faith that Poland would be able to obtain an equally favorable offer.
The Ministry of National Defense is still considering the form of purchase, i.e. with or without offset. The American side suggests that the offset could been done through a supply of parts, service of aircraft and their maintenance or transfer of capabilities related to the operation of F-16 and C-130 Hercules planes.
Americans say that the first two pairs of F35 could reach Poland in 2024, and the next in batches until 2026 and 2030.
Sources: defence24.pl, nationalinterest.org
