On May 10, the spokesperson of Polish Armament Agency announced in social media that Poland will procure the PhantomStrike AESA radars for a fleet of KA-50PL light attack aircraft. However, the contract for the radars has not been signed yet.
PhantomStrike radars are produced by the American company Raytheon Intelligence and Space.
In addition, on May 9, the Defense Security Cooperation agency announced that US Department of State has approved the sale of 34 Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods and related equipment for an estimated cost of 124.7 million dollars.
“The proposed sale will improve the tactical effectiveness of the FA-50 fighter aircraft that Poland is buying from the Republic of Korea by enhancing its abilities to identify targets, track, and engage from a standoff distance; it will also increase interoperability with U.S. and NATO forces,” DSCA said in the press release.
The manufacturer of Sniper ATPs is American defence giant Lockheed Martin.
In August 2022, Polish Ministry of National Defence has signed two contract with Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) for the FA-50 jets.
The first contract covers the supply of 12 FA-50 aircraft in the basic configuration of weapons and equipment (without AESA radars). The value of this contract was 705 million dollars. Deliveries of all these aircraft are expected to be concluded in 2023.
The second contract, with value of approximately 2.3 billion dollars, consist the 36 FA-50PL aircraft. These fighters will be adopted to specify the requirements of the Polish Air Force and will be equipped with PhantomStrike AESA radars. They also will be adopted to carrying the AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles.
Polish Ministry of National Defence intends also to upgrade the first 12 FA-50 aircraft to FA-50PL standard. However, the contract for modernization also has not been signed yet.
