The Polish Air Force’s first two F-35A fighter jets have arrived at the Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Polish Defense Minister, announced this on his page on the X network.

The fighter jets will be prepared for the start of the training program for Polish pilots, who are expected to make their first flights on these aircraft in January 2025.

It is expected that eight Polish F-35As will be deployed at the Ebbing Air National Guard Base, which will be involved in the overall training program of the Polish Air Force.

The training program at the Ebbing Air National Guard Base is expected to train 24 Polish pilots and 92 technicians by 2027.

The pilots will be qualified as instructors, allowing them to conduct further training in Poland.

For this purpose, an integrated training center equipped with eight fully functional simulators will be used in the country, where the next stage of training will take place.

Poland will purchase 32 F-35A fighter jets as part of a $4.6 billion intergovernmental agreement signed on January 31, 2020.

The aircraft will be equipped with the advanced Block 4 configuration and Technical Refresh 3 (TR3) systems, which will provide the highest combat capabilities.

The first squadron is expected to start operating at the 32nd Air Base in Łask in late 2025 or early 2026, and the second squadron is expected to start operating at the 21st Tactical Air Base in Swidwin by 2030.

Militarnyi previously reported that the first flight of the first fifth-generation F-35A Lightning II fighter built for Poland took place in the United States.

The test flight took place on December 2. The multifunctional fighter jet with the AZ-02 number, which received the tail number 3502, took off from the Lockheed Martin plant in Fort Worth, Texas. It happened after 1:30 p.m. local time, and the flight itself lasted just over an hour.