On Friday, May 8, 2026, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz announced on social media that the twelfth F-35A Husarz (Polish designation for F-35) fifth-generation multirole aircraft for Poland, with factory number AZ-12 and tactical number 3512, had made its first flight from NAS Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, adjacent to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics’ FACO Fort Worth facility in Texas.
Photo: Ministry Of National Defence
“The twelfth F-35 aircraft for Poland is ready! Its ground and flight tests have just been completed. Production of the next four F-35s is nearing completion, and they will soon leave the factory in Fort Worth, United States. After that comes the testing phase, and they will be ready to fly to Poland, to the 32nd Tactical Air Base in Łask.”
Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz
The head of the Ministry of National Defence added that construction of the next four aircraft is nearing completion, meaning aircraft from AZ-13 to AZ-16 ‒ all of those that were to come from the U.S. final assembly line and that are also intended for the 11th Air Squadron at the 32nd Tactical Air Base in Łask-Buczek, which was certified on March 10 this year. The remaining aircraft, for the second squadron at the currently modernized 21st Tactical Air Base in Świdwin, from AZ-17 to AZ-32, are to come from the FACO Cameri line in Italy.
At the Defence Days 2026 conference, Deputy General Commander of the Polish Armed Forces, Maj. Gen. Ireneusz Nowak, informed participants of the new arrival date for the first two aircraft, AZ-09 and AZ-10: May 16, instead of the end of the month, so that they can undergo acceptance procedures. A ceremonial welcome is expected to take place in early June.
Meanwhile, on April 3, it was reported that at Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Fort Smith, Arkansas, the fourth group of Polish Air Force pilots training on the F-35A Husarz had begun the flight phase. The first four instructor pilots are already in Poland, out of six trained. The next two aircraft, AZ-11 and AZ-12, are expected to arrive in the country no earlier than July. By the end of the year, Poland is expected to have 13 aircraft in the country.
Currently, the first eight aircraft, from AZ-01 to AZ-08, are stationed at the aforementioned Ebbing Air National Guard Base, where they are used to train a total of 24 pilots and 92 technical personnel, in line with the contract. Recently, on February 10 this year, the aircraft exceeded 1,000 flight hours. They will remain in the United States until the third quarter of 2027, when training is completed, after which they will be redeployed to Poland.
On January 31, 2020, the Ministry of National Defence ordered a total of 32 fifth-generation multirole aircraft in the conventional F-35A Block 4 variant for 4.6 billion USD (17.9 billion PLN). Deliveries are expected to be completed by 2028.
Dwunasty samolot F-35 dla Polski gotowy! Właśnie zakończyły się jego testy na ziemi i w powietrzu. Kończy się produkcja kolejnych czterech F-35 i wkrótce opuszczą fabrykę w Fort Worth w Stanach Zjednoczonych. Później faza testów i będą gotowe, by przylecieć do Polski, do 32 Bazy… pic.twitter.com/lBK25GCmyb
— Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz (@KosiniakKamysz) May 8, 2026