US Approves 32 F-35 Stealth Jets to Poland for $6.5 Billion

The US State Department approved a Polish government request to buy 32 F-35 Fighter aircraft with support for an estimated cost of $6.5 billion.

The deal comes at the time when the US has removed Turkey from the F-35 program and suspended already committed deliveries.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale to Poland on September 10.

Poland has requested to buy thirty-two 32 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Conventional Take Off and Landing (CTOL) Aircraft and 33 Pratt & Whitney F-135 Engines. Also included are Electronic Warfare Systems; Command, Control, Communications, Computer, and Intelligence/Communications, Navigational, and Identification (C4I/CNI); Autonomic Logistics Global Support System (ALGS); Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS); Full Mission Trainer; Weapons Employment Capability, and other Subsystems, Features, and Capabilities.

Significantly, weapons including air-to-air and air-to-ground have not been included in the deal.

The sale to Poland is seen as having diverted the aircraft meant for Ankara to Warsaw. Poland is not among the list of US allies and partners who are to get the F-35 ahead of other international sales.

Meanwhile, Turkey said it has not given up on the F-35s, and it will not be easy to remove Ankara from the fighter jet's production program, the country's presidential spokesperson said on Sept. 10.

“We have not given up on the F-35s, it is not easy to remove Turkey from that program either. We believe that the crisis will be resolved sooner or later,” İbrahim Kalın told reporters following a Cabinet meeting at the presidential complex, Hurriyet News reported.

Turkey produces the most number of F-35 parts outside the US. It has warned that any effort to remove it from the production chain will be very costly.

F-35 recipients such as Japan, Poland and Israel are eager to enter the F-35 supply chain once Turkey is fully removed from the program.