PZL Iryda. Po co Polska zniszczyła samolot lepszy od Su-22, a swój przemysł oddała na złom

The story of Poland's most ambitious post-war aviation program. The PZL Iryda was intended to replace the TS-11 Iskra and become the pride of Polish industry. For 20 years, designers from Mielec built a combat trainer aircraft that outgunned the Soviet Su-22. But two disasters, political decisions, and the collapse of the Polish People's Republic economy led Poland to abort its own program and purchase Italian aircraft for billions of złoty. Seventeen completed aircraft were scrapped. This is the story of how the country buried its own aviation industry and ceded Polish skies to foreign suppliers. A story the Polish military would rather forget.