{"id":12928,"date":"2024-08-28T22:15:07","date_gmt":"2024-08-28T21:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londonpost.news\/?p=12928"},"modified":"2024-08-28T22:15:07","modified_gmt":"2024-08-28T21:15:07","slug":"game-changer-lockheed-unveils-polands-first-f-35","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/europe\/poland\/game-changer-lockheed-unveils-polands-first-f-35\/2024\/08\/28\/admin1\/","title":{"rendered":"Game changer\u2019: Lockheed unveils Poland\u2019s first F-35"},"content":{"rendered":"

FORT WORTH, Texas.August 28\/BreakingDefense\/\u2014 After a year\u2019s worth of headlines dominated by the program\u2019s woes, Lockheed Martin<\/a>\u00a0today celebrated something of a new chapter for the F-35: the first of the stealth fighters for\u00a0Poland<\/a>, rolled out in a grand ceremony at the aerospace giant\u2019s factory here as Polish military representatives, US officials and other dignitaries looked on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis aircraft is going to be a great contributor to Polish, and not only Polish, regional safety, [as well as] NATO credibility [and] deterrence,\u201d\u00a0Maj. Gen. Ireneusz Nowak, general inspector of the Polish Air Force, said during the ceremony. \u201cSo we are going to use it and we are going to achieve our goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Addressing Polish pilots in attendance, Nowak wished them luck, as well as \u201can equal number of take offs and landings.\u201d He then added that his hope is that the jet will not need to be used in combat, \u201cso let\u2019s just use it for deterrence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The F-35 unveiled today is the first of 32 for Poland, after Warsaw in 2020\u00a0inked a $4.6 billion deal<\/a>\u00a0with Washington for the fighters in the conventional take off and landing configuration. Included in that order are 33 F135 engines made by Pratt & Whitney, as well as training and logistics services. The jets will be delivered a handful at a time over several years from Lockheed\u2019s crowded international production line, and the Polish\u00a0Ministry of Defence\u00a0has\u00a0previously said<\/a>\u00a0they should all arrive by 2030.<\/p>\n

Warsaw\u2019s F-35 deliveries staying largely on schedule is welcome news for Lockheed and Poland after a year of headaches in Fort Worth. The Pentagon only started accepting fighters equipped with the Technology Refresh 3 upgrade\u00a0last month<\/a>, a full year after implementing a\u00a0delivery freeze<\/a>\u00a0due to software issues. TR-3 essentially provides the hardware and software necessary for a suite of new capabilities known as Block 4, and jets outfitted with the upgrade, like the one rolled out today, will be limited to training roles for\u00a0at least another year<\/a>\u00a0as lingering software kinks are worked out.<\/p>\n

And Warsaw will waste no time getting started on that training. Polish Air Force officials have\u00a0already visited<\/a>\u00a0Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., to get a feel for F-35 maintenance operations, and Polish pilots within months will inaugurate a\u00a0new international training hub<\/a>\u00a0at Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Arkansas using their new jets. The first aircraft will then be delivered in-country in the 2026 timeframe, according to Lockheed aeronautics boss Greg Ulmer.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FORT WORTH, Texas.August 28\/BreakingDefense\/\u2014 After a year\u2019s worth of headlines dominated by the program\u2019s woes, Lockheed Martin\u00a0today celebrated something of a new chapter for the F-35: the first of the stealth fighters for\u00a0Poland, rolled out in a grand ceremony at the aerospace giant\u2019s factory here as Polish military representatives, US officials and other dignitaries looked […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":""},"categories":[2479,8273],"tags":[3325,8980,8981],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/F-35.jpg","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12928"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12928"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12931,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12928\/revisions\/12931"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}