As a part of the contract, Poland will improve its complete fleet of 48 F-16C/D Block 52+ jets to the F-16V Block 72 customary.
The Polish Protection Minister Wladysław Kosiniak-Kamysz has signed a deal value $3.8 billion for the Mid Life Improve of the Polish Air Pressure’s F-16 fleet. As a part of the deal, all 48 F-16C/D Block 52+ jets presently in service will likely be upgraded to the F-16V Block 72 customary.
The Minister famous that that is an especially important settlement for each the Polish protection business and economic system. In truth, the plane will likely be modernized on the Navy Aviation Works No. 2 in Bydgoszcz, within the northwest of the nation.
Wielka umowa o wartości 3,8 miliardów dolarów na kompleksową modernizację polskich samolotów F-16 podpisana!
To ważny second dla #WojskoPolskie, ale to też niezwykle ważna umowa dla naszego przemysłu zbrojeniowego i 🇵🇱 gospodarki. 48 samolotów wielozadaniowych F-16 będzie… pic.twitter.com/jpXgeEAidf
— Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz (@KosiniakKamysz) August 13, 2025
“The present capabilities of the F-16 within the CD model are good, however after 20 years, they’re inadequate in opposition to threats,” mentioned the Minister. “We should enhance reconnaissance capabilities, communication, integration with F-35s, Abrams tanks, and Apaches, in addition to the power to function in each area.”
The Polish Air Pressure’s F-16s had been delivered between 2006 and 2008, and are thought of to be among the many most succesful F-16s in Europe. The MLU, which is able to make them much more succesful, comes as Poland continues to ramp up protection spending and plans to allocate 5% of gross home product (GDP) to its armed forces in 2026.
Polish F-16 MLU
In October 2024, the U.S. State Division accepted the International Navy Sale (FMS) to Poland of the F-16 Viper Midlife Improve and associated parts of logistics and program help for an estimated price of $7.30 billion, in response to the Protection Safety Cooperation Company discover.
As a part of the FMS, Poland would obtain Improved Programmable Show Turbines, Embedded World Positioning System (GPS) Inertial Navigation Techniques (INS) (EGI) with Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM) or M-Code functionality and Exact Positioning Service (PPS), ) AN/APG-83 Energetic Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) Scalable Agile Beam Radars (SABR), Modular Mission Laptop (MMC) 7000AH upgrades, AN/ALQ257 Built-in Viper Digital Warfare Suites (IVEWS) or AN/ALQ-254V(1) Viper Protect superior digital warfare (EW) suites, Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing Techniques (JHMCS II), AN/APX-126/127 Superior Identification Buddy or Foe (AIFF) with mixed interrogator/transponder (CIT) and Mode 5, amongst all issues, along with the standard plethora of help gear, coaching and documentation.
Work on the weapon capabilities seems to be additionally included, because the bundle options AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Floor Standoff Missile (JASSM) Flight Take a look at Autos, GBU53/B Small Diameter Bomb II (SDB II) Guided Take a look at Autos, GBU-39(T-1)/B Guided Take a look at Autos and AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder Particular and Captive Air Coaching Missiles, in addition to MS-110 reconnaissance pods.
The precise point out of the GBU-39 and GBU-53 is notable, as neither is presently in service in Poland. Whereas there may be an FMS discover for as much as 1,400 GBU-39s for Poland, launched in Could 2025, there will not be particulars relating to the GBU-53 acquisition.
With the complete fleet being upgraded to the Block 72 Viper configuration, the Polish F-16s could have an awesome enhance of their capabilities. This may even permit them to raised complement the F-35A Husarz that the Polish Air Pressure is presently introducing.
The F-16V Block 72
The F-16 Block 70/72 is probably the most superior variant of the Viper, with the F-16V being the designation for current plane upgraded to the identical configuration of newly constructed jets. Thus far, six nations have chosen the F-16 Block 70/72 and Lockheed Martin has a manufacturing backlog of 117 jets, as of February 2025.
Among the many new techniques put in in the course of the improve we are able to discover the APG-83 AESA (Energetic Electronically Scanned Array) radar, a brand new Heart Pedestal Show (CPD), the AN/APX-126 Superior IFF (Identification Buddy or Foe), Hyperlink 16 datalink, full NVIS (Night time Imaginative and prescient Imaging System) and JHCMS II (Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System II) compatibility, a brand new Embedded GPS/INS (EGI), a contemporary business off-the-shelf (COTS)-based avionics subsystem, a high-volume, high-speed knowledge bus and the Automated Floor Collision Avoidance System (Auto GCAS).
“The F-16 Block 70 is the most recent version of one of the crucial fight confirmed fighter jets of all time,” mentioned Col. Thomas Obrochta, 162nd Operations Group commander, when the primary Slovak F-16 Block 70 arrived on the Arizona ANG’s 162nd Wing. “It contains a complicated APG-83 Energetic Electronically Scanned Array [AESA] hearth management radar, a high-resolution Heart Pedestal Show, which supplies essential tactical imagery to pilots and permits them to take full benefit of AESA and focusing on pod knowledge, superior weapons integration, and an prolonged structural lifetime of 12,000 hours– greater than 50 % past that of earlier manufacturing F-16 plane.”
The APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR), developed by Northrop Grumman, is an AESA (Energetic Electronically Scanned Array) radar designed to suit the F-16 with no structural, energy or cooling modifications; as well as, it permits the F-16 to detect, monitor and establish a better variety of targets (reportedly greater than 20 on the similar time) sooner and at longer ranges whereas offering all-weather, high-resolution Artificial Aperture Radar (SAR) mapping. The system additionally built-in a sturdy digital safety to function in hostile digital environments.
The Block 70 contains a new cockpit idea, with the set up of a Heart Pedestal Show (CPD), that gives the pilot with essential tactical knowledge on a excessive decision 6’’x8’’ display. The brand new display permits pilots to take full benefit of the brand new radar and focusing on pod knowledge, together with new coloration transferring map, a bigger and simpler illustration of the air-to-air situational shows with zoom performance and final however not least the power to modify info amongst shows.
