Fort Worth’s Lockheed Martin is taking on yet another multi-billion-dollar contract, but, this time with a foreign military.
Poland will buy 32 fifth-generation F-35 aircraft in a deal worth approximately $4.6 billion, Poland’s Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said in a tweet on Monday.
The contract signing will take place this Friday in Deblin, a town about 70 miles south of capital Warsaw. The Polish Air Force University, the training and education site for the Polish Air Force, is located in Deblin.
The U.S. State Department had approved the foreign military sale to Poland in September.
“This proposed sale of F-35s will provide Poland with a credible defense capability to deter aggression in the region and ensure interoperability with U.S. forces,” a September news release from Defense Security Cooperation Agency said.
Poland had long planned for incorporating Lockheed’s F-35s in its armed forces. Poland wants to replace its legacy MiG-29s and Su-22s with the new and advanced F-35s.
“The proposed sale will augment Poland’s operational aircraft inventory and enhance its air-to-air and air-to-ground self-defense capability,” U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in the release.