Poland officially arms with US F-35 fighter jets
The Polish Armed Forces have officially taken delivery of US-made F-35 fighter jets. A ceremony was held at Lask airbase, with demonstration flights over Gdansk, Warsaw, and Krakow.
Poland's military officially accepted delivery of the American F-35 fighter jets on Friday, June 12, according to Polish media reports. The official ceremony took place at the 32nd Tactical Air Base in Lask, which will now serve as the home base for the F-35s.
The event was attended by Polish President Karol Nawrocki, Marshal of the Senate Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska, Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Thomas DiNanno.
Earlier, Polish pilots conducted ceremonial flypasts over Gdansk, Warsaw, and Krakow as part of the "Greetings to Poland" campaign. The flight route included the Westerplatte peninsula, then along the Vistula River near the Warsaw Citadel, ending over Krakow's Wawel Hill.
Poland ordered 32 multi-role F-35 jets from U.S. manufacturer Lockheed Martin in 2020. The first batch of three aircraft arrived on May 22, 2026. The jets will initially be stationed at Lask, where some Polish F-16s are already based, and later at the 21st Tactical Air Base in Swidwin, which previously housed Soviet-era Su-22 fighters.
The F-35 is currently one of the most widely used combat aircraft types within NATO. Previously, in March, Polish company Wojskowe Zakłady Lotnicze Nr 1 signed a contract with Lockheed Martin for the maintenance of AH-64 Apache attack helicopters in Poland.
