On Wednesday, November 13, 2024, Wojskowe Zakłady Lotnicze No. 2 (WZL-2) in Bydgoszcz, part of the Polish Armaments Group (PGZ), and Pratt & Whitney Rzeszów, a company within the RTX corporation and Pratt & Whitney, signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) to develop competencies for providing comprehensive maintenance in Poland of the F100-PW-229 turbofan engines powering Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 52+ Advanced multirole aircraft.
Photos: WZL-2
The document was signed by Dariusz Sokólski, President of the Management Board of Wojskowe Zakłady Lotnicze No. 2, and Piotr Owsicki, General Manager and President of the Management Board of Pratt & Whitney Rzeszów.
It is worth noting that on August 1 of this year, Pratt & Whitney announced on social media that it had delivered the first engine from a new batch of F100-PW-229 engines for Poland’s F-16 Jastrząb fighters. This version of the engines has been in production since 1989, with final assembly taking place at the company’s facility in Middletown, Connecticut.
WZL-2, on the other hand, is one of the largest aviation facilities in Poland and a key maintenance center for Air Force aircraft. The former Wojskowe Zakłady Lotnicze No. 4 in Warsaw, which became part of WZL-2 on December 20, 2019, specializes in the overhaul and repair of F100-PW-229 engines, as well as RD-33 (MiG-29), AL-21F3 (Su-22), PW127G (C295M), and TV2-117A/AG (Mi-8/17) engines.
The company provides services in the areas of production, repair, and diagnostics of aircraft parts and components, as well as maintenance support for unplanned engine repairs, utilizing a stationary maintenance base and mobile service teams.
On August 1, 2019, the then WZL-4 delivered the first overhauled F100-PW-229 engine fan module to the 31st Air Base in Poznań-Krzesiny. WZL-4 was involved in the production process of these engines for Poland as part of the purchase of 48 F-16 aircraft. For several years, the facility has also been conducting certain maintenance and repair services for Polish F100-PW-229 engines, including overhauls of the gearbox and drive module.
It is worth noting that on May 31, 2006, the first F100-PW-229 engine for a Polish F-16, assembled from components supplied from the USA, was delivered at the assembly department of Wytwórnia Sprzętu Komunikacyjnego PZL-Rzeszów. The engines for the remaining aircraft were also assembled in Rzeszów. On July 1, 2015, the company changed its name to Pratt & Whitney Rzeszów.
Prezes @WZL2_SA Dariusz Sokólski oraz Dyrektor Generalny Prezes Zarządu Pratt & Whitney Rzeszów Piotr Owsicki podpisali list intencyjny w sprawie współpracy w zakresie rozwijania kompetencji dla zapewnienia pełnej obsługi silników F100-PW-229 w Polsce.#pgz #współpraca pic.twitter.com/S0wwGv5zFQ
— Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa🇵🇱 (@PGZ_pl) November 13, 2024