On a trip to Spain vice-primer ministro y ministro de Defensa de Polonia, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamyszit has been confirmed that the Polish air force will be supplied in Spain with large tanker and troop transport aircraft, the MRTT (or Multi Role Tanker Transport)the civil aircraft that Airbus transforms into military flying gas stations.
More workload is coming for the factory that the European aeronautical consortium has in Getafe (Madrid)the only point at which the company transforms these key aircraft in the projection of military power at great distances.
The Polish president did not want to advance the number of tanker planes that his government will buy, after a previous stage in which “previous governments have delayed the decision”, which the current Polish executive considers “very important.” Different sources close to the project They support the number of four planes.
Kosiniak-Kamysz has obtained from the Spanish Ministry of Defense a transfer of duty. Spain will give way to Poland in the queue to get MRTTs, considering that Poland is in a hurry. However, this transfer will not affect the delivery, scheduled for this year, of the third MRTT for the Air and Space Army.
The plane, an Airbus A330 that was from Iberia, is already being transformed in the consortium’s Madrid plant to have the capacity to transport 300 soldiers and 137,500 liters of fuel. That Madrid plant was visited this Tuesday by the Polish minister and an entourage of senior officials from his country’s defense.
Own fleet
Spain and Poland have signed a memorandum of agreement that is now entering the executive phaseThere is something that will be worked on in the two weeks left before the NATO summit in Ankara. Both countries will welcome the SAFE European rearmament fund for the operation to provide its air forces with supply planes
For at least two years, Poland has been planning to have its own fleet of tankers, having at least four without having to depend on joint use in the program NATO Multinational Fleet MMF. The objective is to have logistical support for the deployment of its current F-16 fighter squadrons and, above all, for the 32 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighters that it wants to have in the future.
On the 12th, the first three of these aircraft delivered by Lockheed Martin landed at the Polish Lask air base. Poland will use them with the nickname Husarz (hussar), in reference to a historical figure of its 19th century cavalry.
The F-35 Husarz is a cutting-edge milestone in the Warsaw’s intensive rearmament program in the face of perceived threat from Russia. But, in order to keep these modern fighters in flight at maximum performance, they need the fuel supply planes that they have come to Spain to look for.
If they attack one, they attack all
On the trip, not only MRTTs are sought. Poland is also interested in the large A400M troop and material transport aircraft that Airbus assembles in Spain. But purchases of these aircraft – there could be a dozen – “will be discussed later,” clarifies a source consulted in the defense industry.
In an appearance without questions at the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense, the Polish minister thanked Spain for its understanding for “those of us who live in a space threatened by Russia’s hybrid attacksthreats that occur every day, misinformation, attacks on energy networks…”
The Spanish Minister of Defense, Margarita Roblesresponded by underlining Spain’s commitment to the Atlantic Alliance. “Any attack on any member of the Alliance is an attack on everyone,” he said. “An attack on Poland is an attack on Spain, and we feel that way.”
Facing the Ankara summitwhich the two ministers spoke about this Tuesday, Robles has announced that it will be an important occasion to show “the idea of unity” of NATO, the solidity “of the transatlantic link and the European effort.”
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