Poland's 41-strong Lockheed Martin F-16 fleet may be more reliable under a new maintenance agreement with the airframer.
Under the terms of an agreement between Lockheed Martin and Wojskowe Zaklady Lotnicze (Military Aviation Works) No 2 in Bydgoszcz, the facility - which now overhaul's RSK MiG-29s and Sukhoi Su-22s - will undertake hydraulic, pneumatic, fuel, landing gear and, in future, avionics system servicing and engine and airframe overhauls.
An $18 million budget has been allocated to prepare engineering facilities by 2011-12, and the extent of US technology transfer is under consideration, according to sources in Bydgoszcz.
Poland received its first F-16s in November 2006 and to date has recorded 1,700 malfunctions, defects and faults during acceptance inspections, routine maintenance and flight.
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At least two of Poland's F-16s have been forced to make emergency landings owing to electrical system arcing or fire, and another was forced to land to rectify compressor surging. Three delivery flights have been marred by engine or oxygen system malfunction.
A shortage of trained maintenance personnel has been linked to most of these incidents. US estimates call for 1,110 ground crew to handle a 48-aircraft F-16 fleet. Until the end of this year Poland will have just 780 technicians. Training each ground crew member costs Poland $300,000, but that will be reduced as the Polish air force brings its own instructors on line to train personnel at the Polish air force academy in Deblin.
Separately, the Polish army has dispatched three Mi-17 helicopters from its 25th air cavalry brigade to Chad to support Polish troops stationed in Iriba as part of the UN-backed Operation EUFOR Tchad/RCA, to improve security in Darfur, eastern Chad and north-eastern Central African Republic. The Mi-17s should be operational next month as part of a multinational armed aviation battalion that will ultimately number 15 aircraft from France, Poland and Russia.
Source: Flight International
