Pratt & Whitney Adds $25m to Polish F135 Parts Plant

RTX’s Pratt & Whitney will invest $25 million — roughly 95 million zloty — to expand its plant at Niepołomice, Poland, adding capacity for the complex tubular assemblies that feed the F135 engine powering every variant of the F-35 Lightning II.

The investment

The site specialises in complex tube and line assemblies for aircraft engines. The expansion is expected to create more than 120 new jobs and to be operational in 2028, supported through the Polish Investment Zone Programme.

“Poland plays a vital role as a key hub in Pratt & Whitney’s global engine production, a commitment further strengthened by our $125 million investment,” said Dariusz Stopa, general manager of Pratt & Whitney in Niepołomice.

That $125 million total combines the Niepołomice expansion with a separate $100 million programme at Rzeszów for isothermally forged components. RTX describes Poland as its largest investment and employee base outside the United States, with more than 9,500 staff across its divisions there.

Why the F135 line matters

The F135 is the sole propulsion solution across the F-35A, B and C. It produces roughly 43,000 pounds of thrust with afterburner and, in the F-35B, drives the lift fan that makes vertical landing possible.

Its industrial significance comes from volume. The F-35 programme is the largest fighter supply chain the West has built around a single platform, and a projected fleet in the thousands generates demand that will occupy engine and component lines for decades. Countries producing into that chain gain more than revenue — they gain sustained technology access.

The engine is also under upgrade pressure. Block 4 modernisation raises the aircraft’s electrical and cooling demands beyond what the original thermal management design anticipated, driving the Engine Core Upgrade effort. That work will make the F135 supply chain busier, not quieter, through the late 2020s.

Poland’s industrial calculation

Poland is acquiring 32 F-35As, known locally as Husarz. But Warsaw’s strategy has never been limited to buying platforms. Over the past decade it has pursued a deliberate policy of becoming a production base for Western manufacturers in engines, avionics and forged components.

The result is the industrial cluster around Rzeszów known as the Aviation Valley, where Pratt & Whitney sits alongside a dense group of international aerospace suppliers. For Poland the payoff is skilled employment and, more strategically, the ability to keep maintenance and repair competence inside the country when it matters most.

Localisation, and its limits

The decision reflects a broader shift. As European defence spending accelerates, American primes are building manufacturing footprints on the continent because buyers no longer accept platforms without industrial participation. Local content has become the second decisive variable in a contract, after price.

In engines, though, localisation has a hard ceiling. Hot-section components, single-crystal turbine blades and final engine assembly stay in the home country. Tube assemblies, wiring harnesses and structural parts move outward. The Polish expansion sits firmly in that second category — real industrial work, but not the crown jewels.

Programme timing and risk

Bringing the expanded line online in 2028 aligns with F-35 production rhythm. That programme has seen delivery rates fluctuate, with software block transitions and supply chain bottlenecks slowing handovers at various points.

Tube assemblies are an invisible but unforgiving part of the equation. Fuel, hydraulic and thermal management lines must survive the engine’s operating temperature and vibration regime. Tolerances are tight and qualification is slow, which means standing up such a line is less a capital investment than a long-horizon bet on a skilled workforce.

The Turkish read

After Türkiye’s removal from the F-35 programme, its aero-engine effort consolidated around TEI and TUSAŞ. Turbofan projects such as the TEI-TF6000 and TEI-TF10000 target indigenous propulsion for KAAN and unmanned platforms, while TEI already manufactures components inside the supply chains of global engine makers.

Poland’s trajectory is instructive here. Supply chain participation and sovereign engine ambition are not competing paths — the first builds the manufacturing depth the second eventually requires.