On Thursday, August 1, 2024, the American company Pratt & Whitney (a part of RTX Corporation) announced on social media that it had delivered the first of a new batch of F100-PW-229 turbofan engines for the Polish Lockheed Martin F-16 Jastrząb multirole aircraft.
Currently, around 3,300 engines from the P&W F-100 family power mainly F-16 and F-15 fighter aircraft worldwide / Photo: Pratt & Whitney via Facebook
“This is the first of several engines we will deliver to our Polish ally this year to provide the propulsion power needed to meet current and future threats,” said Josh Goodman, Senior Director of the F100 Program at Pratt & Whitney.
It is unclear when, how many, and at what cost the engines in question were ordered. It is likely that their purchase was included in one of the recent agreements concerning the support for the operation of the F-16C/D Block 52+ Advanced of the Polish Air Force (Another modification of the Polish F-16s).
For example, on September 13, 2023, the U.S. Department of State approved the sale of a support and modification package for the Polish aircraft fleet for up to 389 million USD (1.525 billion PLN). The package included, among other things, support for the Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229 engine component modification program.
Earlier, on August 12, 2022, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) of the U.S. Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma signed a contract worth 132,645,676 USD (520.3 million PLN) with Raytheon (also part of RTX) for the refurbishment of engine modules from the P&W F-100 family for various users, including Poland, through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.
Another option would be for Poland to purchase new engines through the Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) procedure, information about which is not posted on the U.S. Department of Defense websites, and the manufacturer is not necessarily required to disclose it.
The F100-PW-229 engines have been produced since 1989, with final assembly taking place at the Pratt & Whitney facility in Middletown, Connecticut. On August 1, 2019, the then Military Aviation Works No. 4 in Warsaw (now part of Military Aviation Works No. 2) delivered the first fan module of this engine, which had been overhauled by them, to users at the 31st Air Base (31. BLT) in Poznań-Krzesiny.
Previously, these facilities participated in the co-production of the original engines for the aircraft ordered by Poland. However, the main Polish partner was WSK PZL-Rzeszów, which on May 31, 2006, received the first engine for a Polish F-16 in the assembly department, assembled from components delivered from the USA. The engines for the remaining aircraft were also assembled in Rzeszów. On July 1, 2015, the company changed its name to Pratt & Whitney Rzeszów.