NATO Achieves First F-35A Air-to-Air Kill as Dutch Stealth Jet Downs Drone Over Poland

A Royal Netherlands Air Force F-35A has become the first fifth generation fighter fielded by a NATO member’s air force to achieve a kill against an enemy aircraft, with a drone alleged to be of Russian originality having been shot down over Polish airspace on September 9-10. Theincidentreportedly saw around 23 drones cross into Poland, with a single Dutch F-35 of the 313th Squadron responding to the attack in parallel to wider air defence efforts by Polish Air Force F-16s. Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans, who visited the country’s fighter detachment in Poland, highlighted not only the role ground crews in ensuring the aircraft was combat-ready, which has proven to be a particular challenge for the F-35 due to its complex maintenance requirements and major bugs with its ALIS logistics system. It was previously uncertain whether the F-35 was actively involved in hostilities, or whether it may have contributed primarily by using its particularly powerful sensors to share targeting data with Polish F-16s, which rely on much smaller and less advanced mechanically scanned array radars that are considered obsolete.

Preceding the deployment of a Dutch F-35 for air defence operations, only the Israeli Air Force and the U.S. Navy had used the fighters to engage enemy aircraft, namely by the former to shoot down Iranian and Yemeni drones approaching its territory, and by the latter to shoot down Yemeni drones over Yemen. Despite deploying only a limited number of fifth generation fighters, namely Su-57s, the Russian Aerospace Forces have employed the aircraft extensively for air-to-air combat in the Ukrainian theatre, alongside their use for precision strike and air defence suppression missions. The Su-57 remains unmatched in the levels of high intensity combat it has been put through and the variety of targets it has engaged.

The F-35A’s air-to-air capabilities are expected to be considerably improved as the aircraft are brought up to a Block 4 standard, although major delays to its development means this is now only expected to be realised in the early 2030s over half a decade behind schedule. Improvements include a new generation of electronic warfare systems, a 50 percent increase in internal air-to-air missile carriage from four to six, and the integration of the more advanced AN/APG-85 radar.