The U.S. State Department approved the $200 million sale of F-16 support and sustainment services to Poland, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said.
“The Government of Poland has requested to purchase follow-on support and sustainment services for its F-16 fleet,” DSCA said in a press release on Tuesday, December 19. “This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by helping to improve the security of a NATO ally.”
DSCA said the package of services is estimated to cost $200 million and includes aircraft maintenance; system and overhauls and upgrades; engine support; spare and repair parts; U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistical support; and other related support.
The State Department has recently approved a number of potential military sales to Poland. On November 28, it approved the $250 million sale of 150 AIM-120 C-7 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs), and on November 17, a potential $10.5 billion sale of the Patriot anti-missile system including 16 launching stations and 208 PAC-3 missiles sale was approved.
However, the Polish government has since expressed concern about the cost of the Patriot system.
“The price is indeed unacceptable for us even in the view of the significant financial assets that we allocated for the technical modernization of the Polish Armed Forces,” Bartosz Kownacki, secretary of state in Poland’s Ministry of National Defense, told Defense News. “We cannot simply afford to spend that much money on the procurement of two batteries and [Patriot Advanced Capability]-3 missiles for such an amount of money.”
Poland is attempting to build a bespoke missile and air defense system that includes Raytheon’s Patriot system, Northrop Grumman’s Integrated Battle Command System and new radar systems, along with ground-based artillery missile systems to target missile launchers.