Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/739629
The official farewell ceremony of PKW Kuwejt ("Kuwait" Polish Military Contingent) took place on 4th July 2016 at the 23th Tactical Air Base in Mińsk Mazowiecki, Poland. That event was preceded by the decision of President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda dated 17 June 2016 on granting permission to use Polish Armed Forces in that part of the world – the per- mission allows for conducting operations until the end of 2016. Polish Military Contingent Kuwait consists of 150 pilots and military personnel and four F-16 fighters from 32nd Tactical Air Base in Łask. As the name implies the main operational base will be in Kuwait – currently, forces of the allied coalition have been using three air bases there. The spectrum of tasks will include surveillance missions over the territory of North-West Iraq, which is under control of Islamic fundamentalists. For that purpose, they will be equipped with Goodrich DB-110 surveil- lance pods (seven of those were purchased together with the aircraft and are now used by the 32nd TAB which specializes in reconnaissance flights). It is also the place where the fixed and mobile data analysis centers were located where data is transferred in real time from the pods. Apart from Kuwait, some personnel will be sent to Qatar. One of the management centers were established there to control the international operation Inherent Resolve. According to available sources, aircraft were moved to their new base on 5 July 2016. Lieutenant Colonel Tomasz Jatczak with 2000+ hours of flights on his account was chosen as commander of PKW. He is one of the first pilots who completed F-16 training in Poland. Before, he flew MiG-29 Fulcrums. Due to operational security reasons, there is no information concerning the equipment and armament that will be sent to the Middle East together with aircraft. According to the deci- sion of the Polish President, fighters will not be used for offen- sive operations. However, it should not be excluded that they will use armaments in CSAR operations – when stationing in Allied bases there will be no problem of attaching armament. The first information concerning possibilities of sending F-16 C/D fighters appeared in February. From the very beginning, the Polish government declared the plan to use them for sur- veillance tasks over Iraq. The decision on sending Polish fight- ers may also mean that Polish Air Force had implemented www.fragoutmag.com