The Polish Air Force’s first F-35A Lightning II, known as AZ-01, has its landing gear installed and is advancing down the production line at Lockheed Martin’s mile-long assembly plant in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Polish Air Force’s first F-35 was hoisted by an overhead crane earlier this month from an electronic alignment and docking station where the front and rear fuselage sections were joined to the wing center fuselage assembly. The aircraft will now move on to final assembly, where its control surfaces will be added, along with final systems and engine installation.
Increasing in numbers ????
The Polish Air Force’s first F-35A Lightning II, known as AZ-01, stands with weight on wheels for the first time on the assembly line. A new milestone! pic.twitter.com/0wklT8Dp5q
— F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office (@theF35JPO) April 29, 2024
The agreement, signed in 2020 between the United States and Poland, made Poland the 14th NATO member nation to join the Joint Strike Fighter program, and provides for the acquisition of 32 fifth-generation F-35A fighters.
The first aircraft, designated AZ-01, will be delivered to the Polish Air Force later this year. It will be based initially at Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Ebbing, Arkansas, where training of Polish pilots will take place.
Drodzy Fascynaci Lotnictwa,
z ogromną radością ogłaszamy, że nasz polski myśliwiec F-35 ma już oficjalną nazwę: HUSARZ ????????
Dziękujemy wszystkim za udział w głosowaniu i zaangażowanie w wybór nazwy samolotu! pic.twitter.com/wPF5hFET5r
— Sztab Generalny WP (@SztabGenWP) April 29, 2024
While the first images of the AZ-01 were made public, the official account of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces unveiled the result of a public vote to choose the name of its future F-35A fighters. These aircraft will be known locally, by popular choice, as Husarz, or Hussars, a name that pays homage to an emblematic Polish heavy cavalry unit (the Winged Hussars) from the 17th century.
The Polish F-35s will be painted with low-visibility markings and will come equipped with TR-3 (Technology Refresh 3) computer upgrades, which will eventually enable them to be upgraded to the advanced Block 4.
The emerging military power in Europe
The Polish Armed Forces have been carrying out, already for some years (accelerated by the war in Ukraine), a major modernization and capacity building effort, in order to turn the country into one of the major European military powers.
The Air Force in particular, in addition to the significant leap in capabilities represented by the F-35A, is in the process of replacing its Soviet-era fighter aircraft (MiG-29 and Su-22) with Korean FA-50 light fighters. Also, it expressed interest in an eventual incorporation of F-15EX and/or the KF-21 Boramae.
