Poland has received its first F-35A Lightning II fighters, marking a major step in the country’s effort to modernize its air force and strengthen NATO’s eastern flank.
The first three aircraft arrived in Poland on May 22, 2026, after a delivery flight from Lockheed Martin’s production site in Fort Worth, Texas. The aircraft stopped at Lajes Air Base in the Azores before continuing to Poland, according to Polish defense officials.
The aircraft are part of a 32-jet F-35A order Poland placed in 2020 under a Foreign Military Sales agreement with the United States. In Polish service, the aircraft are known as the F-35A Husarz, a reference to Poland’s historic winged hussars.
Lockheed Martin rolled out Poland’s first F-35A in Fort Worth in August 2024. Those early Polish aircraft remained in the United States to support pilot and maintenance training before the first jets were flown to Poland.
Poland’s first three aircraft to arrive in the country are serial numbers 3509, 3510 and 3511. The delivery flight was supported by a US Air Force KC-46A refueling tanker.
Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz welcomed the aircraft as part of a broader modernization effort aimed at replacing legacy combat aircraft and improving Poland’s ability to operate with NATO allies.
Poland has become one of Europe’s most aggressive defense spenders since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The country has moved to expand and modernize its armed forces with new fighter aircraft, air defenses, tanks, helicopters and long-range strike capabilities.
The F-35A gives Poland a fifth-generation combat aircraft with low-observable characteristics, advanced sensors and data-sharing capability. The aircraft is expected to operate alongside Poland’s F-16 fleet, which Warsaw is also upgrading under a separate modernization program.
Poland signed a $3.8 billion deal in 2025 to upgrade its 48 F-16C/D Block 52+ aircraft. That work is intended to improve the fleet’s communications, reconnaissance and integration with other Polish and allied systems, including the F-35.
The first F-35s arrived as NATO continues to reinforce air defenses cloer to Russia.
Allied F-35s have previously operated from Poland as part of NATO air policing and deterrence missions, but the May 22 delivery marks the first arrival of Poland’s own aircraft in the country.
Poland is expected to receive its additional F-35As on order over the next several years as it builds out its fifth-generation fighter force.
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