Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak has confirmed his country signed a contract to buy early-warning aircraft for the Polish Air Force.
Mariusz Błaszczak tweeted Wednesday that “the Armament Agency signed a contract for the supply of Swedish Saab 340 AEW early warning aircraft.”
According to Defence24, the information on the Polish intent to procure two, second-hand AEW platforms emerged in the spring of this year, briefly after a scandal that broke out once remains of a Russian cruise missile were found in Bydgoszcz.
The military object, found in April near the Polish town of Bydgoszcz, could be a Russian Kh-55 cruise missile launched from Belarus during a mass attack against Ukraine.
The delivery of Saab 340s would be a reinforcement for the Air Force, in the short term at least.
“I would prefer some air tankers or MRTT, but I understand that an early warning plane is more urgent for defense and political reasons… No more russian missiles flying 400 km into Polish territory,” the military expert from the Defence24 website, Juliusz Sabak, said in a Twitter post Wednesday.
It’s good #news. I would prefer some air tankers or #MRTT, but I understand that an early warning plane is more urgent for defence and political reasons… No more #russian missiles flying 400 km into Polish territory. 😉@GarethJennings3 @Rotorfocus @MalyasovDylan https://t.co/4ng6rNHO6c
— Juliusz Sabak (@JuliuszSabak) July 26, 2023
The Polish defense magazine also noted that there is a possibility that those aircraft may come from the UAE’s decommissioned inventory. The UAE air force procured two Saab 340 Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft in 2009, commissioning them two years later, and decommissioning them in 2020, when UAE received the first Saab GlobalEyes, acting as the replacement platform.
Saab 340 AEW equipped with Saab’s advanced Erieye radar, together with associated ground equipment, provides a detailed situational picture that can be used for military and civilian tasks, including air surveillance and rescue operations.
