The defence minister of Poland, Mariusz Blaszczak, has signed an agreement for the purchase of 48 light combat aircraft from South Korea.
The deal was signed on Friday at the 23rd Tactical Aircraft Base in Minsk Mazowiecki near Warsaw, with President Andrzej Duda in attendance.
Blaszczak said that it was another historic day as new prospects are opening up for the Polish Armed Forces.
Blaszczak said the FA-50 s will replace the old Soviet-era MiG 29 fighter jets. The contracts also include a training package with link trainers, simulators and a logistics package. We agreed to build a service centre in Poland based on cooperation between Polish Armaments Group and Korea Aerospace Industries.
The defence minister said that the new planes would patrol skies over Poland and other Nato states.
In July, Blaszczak said that the decision to buy three squadrons of the FA 50 s was based on recommendations from Polish military pilots. The aircrafts are light and multi-functional and are based on the US-made F-16 fighters Poland already uses, so the infrastructure can be adapted seamlessly. He said that the FA 50 is an ideal aircraft to train pilots to fly the F-16 and that they would need just a few hours to adapt to the latter.