Poland Significantly Strengthens F-35 Fleet’s Air-to-Air Capabilities with AIM-120D3 Missile Purchase

The Polish Defence Ministry has signed a $500 million contract with the United States to procure AIM-120D-3 radar guided air-to-air missile for its future F-35A and fighters and its current fleet of F-16Cs/Ds, after Washington approved the sales of up to 400 missiles. The Ministry ordered 32 F-35A fighters under a $4.6 billion contract in January 2020, while in August 2025 a $3.8 billion contract was signed to modernise 48 F-16C/D Block 52+ fighters to the F-16V standard, bringing their avionics up to a comparable standard to the F-35. The AIM-120 has been relied on as the primary beyond visual rang air-to-air weapon of the U.S. Armed Forces and American strategic partners across the world for close to three decades, with the heavily enhanced AIM-120D variant being the most capable radar guided air-to-air missile type ever exported by the United States.

Poland’s placing of an order for the AIM-120D has occurred months after confirmation that Russia’s own advanced fourth generation fighters have begun to integrate the rival R-77M missile, which was previously thought to be used only by the country’s small fleet of Su-57 fifth generation fighters. The AIM-120D has an estimated engagement range of around 160 kilometres, compared to approximately 200 kilometres for the R-77M. The Russian missile is considered to have a number of advantages, most notably its use of an active electronically scanned array radar, providing greater resistance to jamming and more power than mechanically scanned array radars used on the AIM-120. The missile also uses active phased array antenna technologies to provide the missile with a fuller and wider angle picture of its target, making it far more difficult to evade.

The Polish Armed Forces have invested heavily in arms procurements at a time of high tensions with neighbouring Russia, and as Polish defence contractors such as the Polish Volunteer Corps having been deployed in significant numbers for frontline combat engagements with Russian forces in the Ukrainian theatre. As Ukrainian and supporting Western Bloc forces have faced fast an increasingly unfavourable situation on the frontlines, the possibility of Polish and Russian forces operating in greater proximity has grown. Polish chief of the General Staff Rajmund Andrzejczak in late 2024 projected a possible future deterrence policy against Russia following a Russian takeover of Ukraine, providing one of several indicators of the gradual shift in consensus in the Western world that with the war in Ukraine increasingly appearing to be lost, defence planning needed to focus on securing NATO’s expanded frontiers with Russian military forces. The fielding of an F-35 fleet with advanced air-to-air capabilities will place the Polish Air Force in a strong position to face this emerging reality.