Poland has reached a deal with military airframer Lockheed Martin to upgrade the country’s fleet of F-16 fighter jets.

Under the $3.8 billion deal, Poland’s 36 F-16Cs and 12 F-16Ds will be modernised from their current Block 52+ standard to the latest F-16V configuration. That is functionally equivalent to the Block 70/72 standard of new-build F-16s rolling off the Lockheed production line in Greenville, South Carolina.

The Polish modernisation package includes a number of significant improvements, including the integration of new Northrop Grumman APG-83 active electronically scanned array Scalable Agile Beam radars, electronic warfare enhancements, Lockheed’s Sniper targeting pod, and the company’s life-saving Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System.

“The current capabilities of the F-16C/D version are good, but after 20 years, they are insufficient to address the threats,” says Polish defence minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak–Kamysz.

The Polish defence chief also emphasised the need to improve the ability of the country’s legacy fighters to integrate with Warsaw’s planned fleet of fifth-generation stealth fighters.

Poland plans to field 32 of Lockheed’s F-35A jets, with the first batch having been delivered to the US Air Force’s Hill AFB in Utah earlier this year to support the initial training of Polish crews.

“These enhancements deliver advanced air power capabilities by keeping the F-16 interoperable with fifth-generation platforms like the F-35,” Nick Smythe, vice-president of sustainment campaign strategies at Lockheed, says of the F-16V modernisations.

Each aircraft will also receive structural modifications to extend their service life to 12,000 flight hours.

Lockheed says it will partner with Poland’s military aviation plant Wojskowe Zaklady Lotnicze No. 2 to perform the F-16V upgrade work in-country, “deepen[ing] cooperation with Polish defence industry partners [and] contributing to the growth of the Poland’s defence sector”.