Since early September, a detachment of stealth F-35A fighters from the Royal Netherlands Air Force has been deployed in Poland. The presence of the fifth-generation aircraft in Polish airspace, in response to the protection of supply lines to Ukraine, reached a highlight with their participation in the interception of Russian drones that violated the airspace of the Eastern European country. As a result, one of the aircraft now displays the distinctive kill mark on its fuselage, confirming the shoot-down of an unmanned aerial vehicle.
On September 10, Poland put all of Europe on alert by confirming the violation of its airspace by Russian drones, which automatically activated the QRA protocol with the deployment of Polish Air Force F-16 fighters as well as the aforementioned Dutch F-35s. Following the incident, Warsaw reported that several of the drones which breached its airspace were shot down, without providing further details, while invoking NATO’s Article 4, which allows for security consultations among allies.
A little over a month after this episode—which triggered the launch of Operation Eastern Sentry, under which NATO reinforced its presence in Eastern Europe—it was confirmed that one of the Dutch F-35s had indeed carried out the shoot-down of one of the Russian drones.
The confirmation came officially just hours ago through a statement by the Dutch Minister of Defense, Ruben Brekelmans, during an official visit to the Dutch detachment in Poland, where he remarked: “For the first time, they shot down Russian drones over NATO territory,” while sharing a photograph showing one of the F-35As, tail number “F-027,” sporting a distinctive kill mark on its fuselage. However, no additional information was provided by the Dutch defense ministry regarding the details of the drone’s shoot-down, leaving unanswered the question of which weapon system was employed by the stealth fighter.
In the series of photographs released, another of the deployed F-35s, tail number “F-009,” can also be seen, but without a kill mark like its wingman.
