At a ceremony at their plant in Świdnik, near Lublin, Mr. Mieczysław Majewski, CEO and Chairman of the Board of the Polish aircraft manufacturer PZL-Świdnik, turned over the first component the company produced for the US Navy F-14 “Tomcat” aircraft.
Attending the ceremony was Ambassador Victor Ashe, Mr. Andrzej Kurowski, Governor of Lublin Province, Mr. Waldemar Jakson, Mayor of Świdnik, Colonel Stan Prusinski, Chief of the Embassy’s Office of Defense Cooperation, Commander Anthony Ferrari, the F-14 Program Manager, Mr. Czesław Covington, the FCT/US/Poland Program Manager, and representatives of other US companies involved in the F-14 project.
This will be the first Polish-manufactured component to fly on a US military aircraft.
This component – a “transmitter bay access panel” - is the result of a contract signed last year between the company and the US Navy, originally valued at $275,000.
The initial investment went toward certification of the PZL facilities, qualification of their procedures, and manufacture of test assemblies. The total contract value is significantly higher.
The Navy's Office of Comparative Testing funds the program, which is managed by the F-14 Program Office.
The program will include cooperation between PZL-Świdnik and three small U.S. companies that will supply various specialty materials and sub-components.
Polish employees will perform at least 50 percent of all the work at the PZL-Świdnik facility.
This is the first such project in Poland. Besides the obvious technical merits -- such as competitive fabrication of replacement structures for F-14 and other aircraft -- it will foster cooperation between U.S. and Polish industry and provide Polish companies with a conduit into U.S. aerospace markets.
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