President Karol Nawrocki’s appearance in the cockpit of an F-35 fighter jet has reignited a domestic argument about which defence hardware Poland’s head of state ought to be showcasing, coming just weeks after the first five of the aircraft landed at a Polish air base.
The dispute traces back to Nawrocki’s March trip to the United States, when he toured the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics plant in Texas, the facility where fifth-generation multirole F-35s destined for Poland are assembled. A photograph of the president seated inside one of the jets, published on social media, drew critical comments from military analysts.
Nawrocki is currently back in the United States with his wife for the session of the UN General Assembly in New York. His schedule includes meetings with foreign leaders as well as figures from business and the economy, following his participation in the Polish-American Economic Summit devoted to the future of economic cooperation between Warsaw and Washington.
A photo that provoked a rebuke
Military analyst Dawid Kamizela responded to the cockpit image by pointing out the absence of comparable photographs showing the president with Polish-made military equipment. He asked whether Nawrocki had visited Huta Stalowa Wola or any other domestic defence manufacturer and posed for a picture with hardware such as the Borsuk infantry fighting vehicle or the Piorun air-defence system.
– Borsuk, Krab, Piorun, HSW, WB Electronics, Mesko. Pick one, it makes no difference. In my opinion Polish workers and Polish products should be the priority for a Polish president. Instead I see the president in a Lockheed Martin product and it drives me up the wall – said Dawid Kamizela.
Polish threads and Polish deliveries
Tomasz Dmitruk of „Dziennik Zbrojny” weighed in as well, noting that the president had been photographed inside an F-35A earmarked for Poland. He also pointed to a Polish element in the picture, namely the presence of the company COBI Bricks.
Kamizela replied that he would assess the image of Nawrocki in the F-35A cabin differently had the president previously also been shown alongside equipment built by Polish arms firms.
The discussion unfolded against the backdrop of the aircraft’s arrival in Poland. At the end of August, five F-35s touched down at the 32nd Tactical Air Base in Łask, reaching the country on Polish Aviation Day. A total of 14 of the jets is expected to be in Poland by the end of the year.
Źródło: WNP.pl, Fot. Shutterstock/Wirestock Creators
