Poland inducts first F-35 fighters as godmother pick and media deal stir political row

The arrival of the fifth-generation fleet

Two F-35A Lightning II jets touched down at the 32nd Tactical Air Base in Łask, the first of 32 machines ordered under a contract signed in January 2020 by then-defence minister Mariusz Błaszczak. Before the ceremony the aircraft flew over Gdańsk, Warsaw, Kraków and Łódź, giving Poles their first close-up look at the new backbone of the air force. The planes will carry the name 'Husarz', a nod to the historic Polish winged hussars.

The godmother controversy

During the ceremony the wife of deputy prime minister and defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Paulina, was named godmother of the F-35s. The Ministry of National Defence told reporters the choice was made by the pilots' community. She performed the symbolic christening together with Captain Magdalena Boryc-Krakowian, widow of Major Maciej Krakowian, a pilot who died in a training flight ahead of the Air Show Radom 2025.

“My opinion, this is the peak, that the minister put forward such a proposal and agreed to it, as if he wanted to honour his wife for making a good soup. For what merits was this honour given? There is no national rank here.”

Retired brigadier general pilot Dariusz Wroński told wPolityce.pl that the role should have gone to the First Lady, as it had for the F-16 and M-346 Bielik. The ministry countered that not all military aircraft have had First Ladies as godparents, citing actress Halina Łabonarska for the Gulfstream G550.

Private broadcaster under scrutiny

The state broadcaster TVP normally handles transmission of state ceremonies, but this time private news channel TVN24 produced and aired the event. The National Broadcasting Council head Agnieszka Glapiak sent a formal request to the defence ministry asking for the 'substantive, organisational and economic' reasons for the choice, as well as the total costs and funding sources. The council noted that TVP in liquidation receives nearly 3 billion PLN annually from licence fees and budget subsidies for its public-service mission.

A political credit line

President Karol Nawrocki used his speech to thank former minister Błaszczak and those who, he said, did not give in to 'bad whispers' in 2020. He also recalled that the current minister had once criticised the purchase and, in his party's election programme, called for the contract to be scrapped.

“I invited minister Mariusz Błaszczak here today. Minister, thank you that despite those who said acquiring F-35s was megalomania, and others who wanted to write the cancellation of this contract into their election programme — you did not bend.”

Nawrocki added that the new minister could now 'benefit from this good and prepare this wonderful ceremony'. Social media users noticed that Kosiniak-Kamysz shook Błaszczak's hand only after the president gestured toward him. PiS MEP Jadwiga Wiśniewska commented that the president 'sweeps'.