Poland’s stealth fighter has, until now, been an American export — built in Fort Worth, Texas, and flown across the Atlantic. This week that changed. The first Polish F-35A assembled in Europe, at Leonardo’s final-assembly line in Cameri, Italy, lifted off on its first functional test flight. Tail number 3517 is the first of sixteen Polish jets that will be built on European soil rather than in Texas.
It is a quiet milestone with loud implications. Cameri is one of only two F-35 Final Assembly and Check-Out sites outside the United States, and the only one in Europe. That a Polish “Husarz” — named for the winged Hussars, the heavy cavalry of the old Commonwealth — now rolls off an Italian line is a small emblem of Europe building its own fifth-generation air power.
| Flugzeug | Lockheed Martin F-35A “Husarz” |
| Operator | Polish Air Force |
| Order | 32 jets, ~USD 4.6 billion (2020) |
| Assembled at | Cameri, Italy (16) + Fort Worth (16) |
| Meilenstein | First Cameri-built Polish F-35 flies (tail 3517) |
| Datum | 22 July 2026 |
| In Poland | First 3 arrived May 2026; 14 expected by year-end |
From Texas to Cameri
Poland ordered 32 F-35As in January 2020 for roughly USD 4.6 billion under its “Harpia” programme, to replace the Soviet-era MiG-29 and Su-22 still in service. The first three jets, built in the United States, touched down at Łask Air Base on 22 May 2026 and were formally welcomed into service in June. Fourteen are expected in Poland by the end of the year, with the fleet split between Łask and Świdwin.
Half of the order, though, is Italian-built. The Cameri facility — owned by the Italian defence ministry, operated by Leonardo alongside Lockheed Martin — assembles around fifteen aircraft a year and doubles as Europe’s F-35 maintenance and upgrade hub. Tail 3517’s first flight is the proof that a Polish jet can be born there.
Fifth-generation on the eastern flank
The strategic point is hard to miss. Poland is assembling the most capable fighters in the Western inventory a short flight from Kaliningrad and Belarus, and doing so through a European production chain. Polish pilots and technicians have been training at Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Arkansas, with the first cadre of F-16 aviators becoming the instructors for what follows.
Deliveries are due to run into the early 2030s. When they are complete, Poland will field one of the largest F-35 fleets in Europe — a good share of it wearing the Hussar’s wings and stamped, quietly, “made in Italy.”
Sources: The Aviationist; Coccarde Tricolori; Notes From Poland; Euronews; Leonardo; f35.com (July 2026).
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