US F-35A fighters flying with Polish F-16s over Poland at a time of great tension

@DefAviation ES 4·28·2024 · 21:58 0

Poland is experiencing one of the most tense moments in defense matters since the Cold War, especially regarding its Air Force.

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The Polish Air Force has begun to undertake scramble missions to carry out possible shootdowns of Russian missiles that enter Polish airspace, due to attacks by invading forces against Ukraine. For days now, those air defense missions have been made public through the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces, which reports on these flights through your Twitter account so that the Polish population is not alarmed by the activity of military aircraft in the middle of the night.

The last alert of this type was published on the night of Friday, April 26 to Saturday, April 27, at 03:44 CET. "We warn that due to the start of another wave of long-range air strikes by the Russian Federation against facilities located on the territory of Ukraine, Polish and allied aircraft have been activated , which may result in an increase in noise levels, especially in the southeastern part of the country", the Operational Command reported.

The Polish Air Force is receiving help from the US Air Force (USAF) for these air defense missions. Currently, the United States has F-35A fighters deployed in Poland to collaborate on this type of missions.

A few days ago, the 18th Mechanized Division of the Polish Army published an excellent series of photos taken by Corporal Sławomir Kozioł of a flight of American F-35As and Polish F-16s during a joint patrol over Poland. The planes appear in the photos armed with short-range AIM-9 Sidewinder and AIM-120 AMRAAM medium-range air-to-air missiles.

The F-35As that appear in the photos carry the initials LN on their tails, which indicate that they belong to the 495th Fighter Squadron based at RAF Lakenheath (Suffolk, England).

The Polish fighters are several single-seat F-16C and a two-seat F-16D belonging to the 31st Krzesiny Tactical Air Base, on the outskirts of Poznań. On April 19, this base announced this joint patrol, organized by the General Command of the Polish Armed Forces, showing its own series of photos and noting that one of its objectives is "border protection".

Two of the Polish fighters carry a beautiful decoration commemorating the centenary of the unit, heir to the 2nd and 4th Greater Poland Squadrons during the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1921.

Regarding the place where the photos were taken, this image offers a clear clue: three Polish F-16s flying very close to the city of Gdynia. What we see in the background is the Hel peninsula.

You can see the rest of the photos below.