Poland is set to receive its first F-35A fighter jet, with serial number AZ-01, at a ceremony to be held this week at the Lockheed Martin facilities in Texas. This marks the beginning of a $4.6 billion contract for 32 F-35A aircraft, with the first planes expected to arrive in Poland by 2026.
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Polish headquarter  introduce F-35  (Picture source: Polish armed forces)

Although it will still be some time before an F-35 from the Polish Air Force flies in the skies of its country, the NATO member will officially take delivery of the first of its fifth-generation stealth aircraft - serial number AZ-01 - this week at a ceremony at Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth, Texas facilities.

This will be the first of the thirty-two F-35A aircraft Warsaw purchased for $4.6 billion in 2020. The deal also includes training and simulators, as well as a logistical support package for the aircraft. The first of the F-35s is expected to arrive in Poland in 2026, while the initial models to come off the assembly line will be used for training in the United States at the Ebbing Air National Guard Base (ANGB) in Arkansas.

When the F-35A eventually becomes operational from Poland, it will not be under the name Lightning II, a designation used by the US military and various partner countries. Instead, the fighters will be nicknamed "Husarz" (hussar in Polish) in homage to the country's infamous "winged hussars."

Poland has long had a tradition of assigning national names to its combat aircraft, even those manufactured abroad. The F-16 Fighting Falcon serves in the Polish Air Force under the name Jastrząb (Hawk).

By the end of the decade, NATO will create a unit to operate the F-35 at the 32nd Tactical Air Base in Lask, in the central part of the country. It will later do the same at the 21st Tactical Air Base in Swidwin, in the northwest of Poland.

 Polish Mig 29 during Nato Meet ( Picture source:  Polish armed forces ) 

The delivery of nearly two dozen F-35s to Poland will continue until 2030, as Warsaw seeks to phase out its Cold War-era Mikoyan MiG-29 fighters (NATO codename Fulcrum). Last month, it was reported that Warsaw might send the remaining MiG-29s to Ukraine.

But on Tuesday, Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz emphasized that this could only happen once Poland begins to receive its F-35s. "I know that Ukraine needs many types of weapons, but our partners in Ukraine must also understand that the Polish state must maintain its capabilities," Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters. "Only after the reception of the new planes will it be possible to dispose of the old ones, like the MiG-29s, which are still used, among other things, for the protection of Polish airspace. Only then will we make a decision."

Warsaw clearly fears that NATO could end up at war with Russia – and perhaps for good reasons. A large part of Poland was under Russian Imperial rule until the end of World War I, while the Soviet Red Army invaded the country in 1920 and the Soviet Union annexed much of what was Eastern Poland at the start of World War II. Poland was part of the communist bloc dominated by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Warsaw continues to strengthen its military, heavily investing in its national production of equipment and acquiring the latest tanks and aircraft from the United States and South Korea. The Polish government has also concluded an agreement with the United States for the acquisition of AIM-120C-8 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles as well as AGM-158B-2 JASSM cruise missiles that could be used on its future F-35s.