February 18, 2008 (by Lieven Dewitte) -
The Pratt & Whitney WSK PZL-Rzeszów facility has completed the assembly and testing of 43 F100-PW-229 engines for the Polish F-16s.
F100-PW-229 Full AB test run press photo
Rzeszów, in south east
Poland, began assembling engines for F-16 fighter jets in 2006 as a result from the offset negotiations during the acquisition process of the aircraft.
The first F100-PW-229 engine manufactured at Rzeszów debuted during an inaugural aerial exercise of Poland's new F-16 aircraft at the Polish Peace Sky Program ceremony held on September 15th, 2006.
It is currently the first and only company in Europe and the third company in the world authorised to perform the acceptance tests of engines F-100. They would like to achieve the position of the European testing center for the F100-PW-229 engines, offering service for all countries using the F-16 fighter jest, with
Greece among others.
In addition to the F100 assembly and test capability, Rzeszów is responsible for the manufacturing of several types of Pratt & Whitney commercial and military engine parts. The facility has more than 4,000 employees.
While several Polish firms have been producing aircraft engines for over half a century, most of these were licensed Soviet designs. Doing this work on the F100s demonstrated that Polish firms were capable of dealing with Western technology.
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Additional images:
Closeup of the composite material used on the F100-PW-229 engine nozzle
Exterior view of the Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229
View inside the intake of the F100-PW-229 inlet.
