Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz has announced the next significant US arms delivery to his country on his X account (formerly Twitter): “Strategic cooperation is working – the latest air-to-air missiles are being delivered to our Air Force! The US State Department has just approved Poland’s purchase of 400 of the most advanced AIM-120D3 missiles. Their range is up to 180 kilometers.”
Strategiczna współpraca ???????????????? przynosi efekty – najnowsze pociski powietrze-powietrze trafią do naszych Sił Powietrznych! Departament Stanu USA właśnie wyraził zgodę na zakup przez Polskę 400 najnowszych pocisków rakietowych AIM-120D3. I zasięg sięga nawet do 180 kilometers. To… pic.twitter.com/JZJtIoqDdD
– Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz (@KosiniakKamysz) April 29, 2025
The minister was thus commenting on the routine notification from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), which is part of the Pentagon, regarding the planned delivery. Accordingly, the USA has agreed to a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) sale of 400 radar-guided AIM-120D3 AMRAAMs of the latest generation from the manufacturer Raytheon. The missiles are to go to Polish Air Force fighter aircraft, accompanied by training ammunition and other technical equipment. The maximum value of the order stated by the Pentagon is around 1.16 billion euros.
Raytheon recently announced a doubling its AIM-120 production. to.
Numerous other major orders
This is Poland’s second air-to-air munitions deal with the USA in a short space of time. In 2024, Warsaw had already signed a contract for an unspecified number of the predecessor version of the AIM-120C for around 750 million euros – intended as armament for the Polish F-16.
The current order, on the other hand, is likely to be primarily for the 32 F-35A Husarz currently being delivered – the first six of which are to be delivered from this year (-> First Polish F-35 is already in the air). At the same time, Poland has already ordered 800 JASSM cruise missiles (air-to-ground, range up to 1,000 kilometers) for up to 1.6 billion euros and 232 AIM-9X Block II (IR-guided short-range missiles) for around 200 million euros.
In addition, there was another significant order in 2025: up to 360 AARGM-ER missiles (Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missiles – Extended Range) to combat enemy radar systems as part of SEAD/DEAD missions. The weapons manufactured by Northrop Grumman cost around 700 million euros.
AIM-120D3: State-of-the-art version with F3R upgrade
According to the manufacturer Raytheon, the AIM-120D3 is currently the most powerful version of the AMRAAM family. Its development was strongly influenced by the performance data of the Chinese PL-15. Among other things, the missile has:
- a bidirectional data connection,
- an improved navigation system with GPS-supported inertial measurement unit (IMU),
- an extended no-escape zone,
- increased high-off-boresight capability (HOBS) and
- a top speed of Mach 4.
The AIM-120D3 (and the export variant AIM-120C-8) was developed as part of the so-called Form-Fit-Function Refresh (F3R). This upgrade includes 15 new electronic modules and enables future software upgrades (SIP). Since April 2023, only AIM-120D3 or AIM-120C-8 with F3R function have been produced.
The US Air Force and Navy (-> current news from the US armed forces) have introduced the new version following successful tests on QF-16 target drones and a functional configuration audit at Eglin AFB, Florida. The first export customer was Australia with an order for 450 units.
Outlook: Eurofighter, budget and unanswered questions
The Austrian Armed Forces is also still seeking a limited AIM-120C-8 contingent to modernize its early Eurofighters. However, the actual call-off is still pending, not least due to the outstanding budget approval for 2025/26. Similar delays are currently also affecting other red-white-red major procurements.
