According to the news website Onet.pl, the South Korean training and combat FA-50 aircraft purchased by the former government, have remained unused for the past few months.

At Monday’s press conference in the south-eastern city of Rzeszów, the minister addressed the report, saying that while the Law and Justice (PiS) cabinet, whose administration ended last December, made several deals for military equipment purchases, they did not arrange for appropriate changes that would prepare the armed forces for its implementation.

In his view, after the army received the purchased FA-50 planes, they were not ready for take-off or to be used right away.

“The army had to do heaps of work to receive the proper certificates and permits,” he said. “It has since been taken care of, but this situation manages to illustrate beautifully how simply informing the public of an arranged purchase does not mean the job is done… The proper infrastructure, safety measures, the preparations, getting all the permits — only that means that the matter is finalized.”

At the same time, Kosiniak-Kamysz said that the current government has been approaching the issue of modernizing the Polish army in a comprehensive manner.

“Transforming and modernizing does not solely mean making purchases, it also involves their implementation to Poland’s defense system,” he added.

He went on to say that the government has made plans to centralize the transformation and to establish a special command unit to be in charge of the whole process.

“Certainly, we will be making good on the errors of our predecessors and the negligence that occurred,” he said. “We were successful in this area and we will be again.”

Poland has recently ordered modern military equipment from South Korea, including Chunmoo rocket artillery units, K2 Black Panther tanks, K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers, and FA-50 combat trainer aircraft, in reaction to increased threats from Moscow after Russia invaded Ukraine.