The first flight of the first fifth-generation F-35A Lightning II fighter jet built for Poland took place in the United States.

Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysh reported on this.

Aviation photographers Tori and Gherardo Fontana published the photos of the aircraft on X.

The test flight took place on December 2. The multifunctional fighter jet with the AZ-02 serial number, which received the tail number 3502, took off from the Fort Worth, Texas, Lockheed Martin plant.

It happened after 13:30 local time, and the flight itself lasted just over an hour.

The Polish Minister of Defense announced that in January, a Polish pilot will sit in the cockpit of an F-35A fighter jet.

Also, the first two F-35As built for the Polish Air Force will soon be shipped to Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Arkansas, where Polish pilots will be trained.

The fighter jet in the Polish Air Force has been officially named F-35A Husarz [Polish for “hussar”]. It is planned that the first aircraft will arrive in the country at the Lask air base in 2026.

The official presentation of the first fifth-generation F-35A fighter jet for Poland took place on August 28 this year.

Militarnyi reported on completing the assembly of the first Polish F-35A on August 2. Production of this aircraft began in April 2023 in Georgia and ended in Texas.

In total, under the agreement signed in January 2020, Poland will receive 32 fifth-generation F-35A Husarz fighters in the Block 4 version with the Technology Refresh 3 (TR-3) technology package, which is the most significant evolution of the F-35’s combat capabilities to date.

The total value of the contract is estimated at $4.6 billion. The first six ordered aircraft are to be built in 2024-2025, and deliveries will continue until 2030.