Russia Faces New Air Power Threat as First Polish F-35 Stealth Fighters Arrive at Home Base

The Polish Air Force has received its first three F-35A fifth generation fighters, which landed at the 32nd Tactical Air Base in Lask, making Poland the first former Warsaw Pact state other than Russia itself to field the latest generation of fighter aircraft. Senior Polish political and military leadership figures attended the aircraft’s arrival ceremony, with the F-35 representing the first NATO standard fighter type the country has procured following the U.S. F-16C/D and the South Korean FA-50. A contract to procure 32 F-35A fighters was finalised in 2020, marking a major milestone in the aircraft’s proliferation into Eastern Europe including into former Soviet-allied states.

The first F-35 built for Poland was unveiled during a rollout ceremony at the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics facility in Fort Worth, Texas, on August 28, 2024. The Polish Air Force’s F-35A Husarz fifth generation fighter unit was confirmed in February to have surpassed 1,000 flight hours during training in the United States, after they crossed the 500 flight milestone in December 2025. The F-35 was designed primarily for penetration strikes into heavily defended hostile airspace, and the suppression and destruction of hostile air defences. This mission requirement is optimal for engaging Russian forces, which are very heavily invested in ground-based air defence systems like the S-400. The Russian Defence Ministry’s investments in its own air power have been highly conservative since the disintegration of the USSR, with less than two regiments’ worth of Su-57 fifth generation fighters having been procured.

Poland has since 2022 staged a major military buildup, particularly in its ground forces, with the country’s most influential military thinkers, such as President of Academy24, General (ret.) Jaroslaw Gromadzinski and former Chief of the General Staff Rajmund Andrzejczak, having widely advocated a major shift in the country’s defence posture aimed specifically at preparing for war with Russia. This has included establishing a much expanded capability to launch large scale strikes on vital Russian strategic targets. As part of the country’s ground force transformation 366 Abrams tanks have been ordered from the United States, as well as 360 South Korean K2 tanks out of a planned total procurement of 1000, alongside Korean K9 howitzers, Chunmoo rocket artillery systems, and a wide range of other equipment being procured on a very large scale. 

Although being procured in limited numbers, the F-35 is expected to serve as a force multiplier for Polish F-16 and FA-50 fighters, with its more powerful sensors and more advanced data links allowing it to significantly increase the situational awareness of the wider fleet. Its advanced air defence suppression capabilities could also allow it to ‘kick down the door’ into well protected airspace in Belarus or Russia. The Polish fighter fleet was previously assessed to be qualitatively outmatched by that of neighbouring Belarus, which procured Russian Su-30SM2 fighters that have significantly more advanced and powerful sensors and superior flight performances to Polish F-16s and FA-50s. The F-35’s advanced stealth, network centric warfare and electronic warfare capabilities, however, are expected to give Polish air units a distinct advantage.