Polish F-35: Pricetag Unveiled, Agreement to Be Signed on Friday

Let us recall that the US Congress issued an approval concerning the Polish procurement with regards to the aircraft sale complemented by auxiliary equipment and services, with a value of up to 6.5 billion dollars. Meanwhile, as Błaszczak noted, we would be paying 2 billion dollars less - 4.6 bn dollars which translates into an amount of PLN 17.82 bn.

For the sake of comparison, Belgium that is not a part of the F-35 program and that resigned from the offset as well (similarly to Poland) has paid 4.25 billion dollars, acquiring 34 aircraft. It seems then that Brussels has managed to negotiate a lower price “per example”. Actually though, the higher price in case of Poland could be related to procurement of a higher quantity of extra equipment (spares for instance) or a more expansive training package. The matter may get clarified when the agreement is finally signed, with its content being released.

The amount mentioned by the head of the MoD probably defines the net price of the FMS agreement. When the jets are delivered to Poland, 3 billion zlotys of VAT will need to be added to the price. The tax is collected identically as in case of any deal that is similar. The Armament Inspectorate pays the tax to the Tax Office. The main FMS agreement will probably also cover the logistics and training package, with the infrastructure expansion and armament being a subject to separate contracts.

The value of the agreement concerning the 32 F-35A fighter aircraft will hence be close to the amount characterizing the main FMS agreement concluded in March 2018, concerning the Phase I of the Wisła MRAD program (two Patriot/IBCS batteries). However, the capabilities covered by that contract would be allocated in full to the Wisła system as a whole. Let us recall, total value of the Phase I of the Wisła program is defined as USD 4.75 bn.