The first of the Polish Air Force’s new fighter jets, FA-50GF, was unveiled to the public in a rollout ceremony Wednesday in Sacheon, some 300 kilometers south of Seoul.
The Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) held a roll-out ceremony for the first FA-50GF light attack aircraft to be exported to Poland.
The ceremony was attended by Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and his Polish counterpart, Mariusz Blaszczak, as well as Korea’s Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Jung Sang-hwa and Defense Acquisition Program Administration chief Eom Dong-hwan.
“We were able to successfully push for such a defense cooperation project within the short span of time due to not only our company’s outstanding technology and production capacity, but also trust between the two countries and Poland’s determination,” Lee said.
Blaszczak noted that the swift rollout has contributed to Poland’s reinforcement efforts.
“Thanks to the speedy release of FA-50GF, Poland is now able to equip itself with more advanced military strategies and realize the military modernization,” he said. “I look forward to seeing FA-50GF fly in the airspace of Poland.”
Following flight tests through next month, KAI plans to supply 12 FA-50GF by the end of this year. In September 2022, KAI inked the “executive” contract with Warsaw’s Armament Agency to supply 48 FA-50 jets. GF stands for the “gap filler” meant to replace Poland’s aging fleet with the group of the new aircraft.
Aside from the 12 jets to be delivered this year, KAI plans to supply 36 units of the upgraded version, named FA-50PL, from the latter half of 2025 through 2028.