Eurofighter Fields Typhoon To Replace Polish Su-22, MiG-29 Aircraft Fleet

The Eurofighter consortium plans to pitch the Typhoon fighter aircraft to the Poland Air Force which intends to replace its fleet of ageing Soviet-era types. 

“The platform would offer Warsaw a number of advantages, including possible workshare – although not final assembly work – and technology transfer”, Joe Parker, director of export at the Eurofighter consortium was quoted as saying during the MSPO defense show in Kielce, Poland.

"For Poland, Typhoon would bring the operational performance and capabilities it needs, alongside the intellectual technology it would want. Typhoon would initially be offered as a replacement for the Su-22, but that its "swing-role" capability also renders it suitable to take on missions performed by the MiG-29 fleet," Parker added.

Poland is one of the countries that is in our export campaign base, and we will look at all the windows when they might potentially procure, he added. 

Presently, the Polish air force inventory includes 36 Sukhoi Su-22s and 31 RAC MiG-29s, and the service has recently embarked on an upgrade programme for a number of both types.

Typhoon production presently stretches out until around 2017 or 2018, notionally giving Warsaw a very tight window in which to order the fourth-generation type, according to Flight Global. However, Parker is confident the successful conclusion of a number of export campaigns – including with Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and several other undisclosed customers – will prolong production well into the 2020s, the report added. 

Meetings have already taken place between Eurofighter representatives and Polish defense officials, the consortium says.