"Poland asks U.S. manufacturer to explain problems with new F-16s
November 9, 2006
Poland has asked Lockheed Martin of the United States to give details of
the technical problems that forced brand new F-16 fighter jets to turn
around when they were en route for delivery in Poland, a defense
official said.
"We want information on the nature of the problems that occurred when
the airplanes were en route to Poland," said Piotr Lukaszewicz, the
Polish defence ministry official handling the procurement contract for a
total of 48 F-16s.
On Monday, the first four F-16s ordered by Poland had to turn around
when they were over the Atlantic, after technical problems were detected
in one of the aircraft.
On the second attempt to fly the high-technology fighter jets to Poland,
a fresh set of problems forced two of the planes to land at a base in
Iceland. The others flew on to Germany.
Two F-16s eventually arrived at Poland's Krzesiny air base, near the
western city of Poznan, on Wednesday afternoon. The other two jets were
scheduled to arrive on Thursday.
"We are in the dark as to the nature of the problems and we do not want
to speculate before we have had an answer from the Americans,"
Lukaszewicz said.
Reports in the Polish press have hypothesized that the problems were
linked to in-flight refuelling or the fighter jets' positioning
mechanism.
At the end of 2002, Lockheed Martin won the 3.5 billion dollar (2.9
billion euro) contract to help Poland bring its ageing air force fleet
of Soviet-era MiG-21s and MiG-29s up to the standards of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), which Poland had joined three years
earlier.
British-Swedish company BAE Systems-SAAB and France's Dassault Aviation
had also fought hard for the contract, proposing respectively the JAS-39
Gripen and the Mirage 2000-5.
Under the F-16 deal, which was the most costly ever inked by Poland, a
total of 16 aircraft are meant to be delivered by the end of this year.
A ceremony on Thursday at the Krzesiny base to trumpet the four F-16s'
arrival is scheduled to be attended by Polish President Lech Kaczynski;
Defence Minister Radoslaw Sikorski; Polish military chief, General
Franciszek Gagor; U.S. Ambassador to Poland Victor Ashe; General William
Hobbins, commander of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe, and several other
U.S. and Polish officials."